(\^a.Uiu'^^C\,XA  /\c^aMrx^ 


HISTORY 


PETER  THE  GREAT, 


EMPEROR  OF  RUSSIA. 


PROM  THE  FRENCH  OF  VOLTAIRB. 

BY   SMOLLETT. 
VOL.1 

NEW    YORK: 
LEAVITT    &    ALLEN. 

379    BROADWAY. 

1S57. 


^ 


PETER   THE   GREAT 


CHAP.  L 


rjiHE 


DESCRIPTION  OF  RUSSIA. 

E  empire  of  Russia  is  the  largest  in  the  whole 
globe,  extending  from  west  to  east  upwards 
of  two  thousand  common  leagues  of  France,*  and 
about  eight  hundred  in  its  greatest  breadth  from 
morth  to  south.  It  borders  upon  Poland  and  the 
Frozen  Sea,  and  joins  to  Sweden  and  China.  Its 
length  from  the  island  of  Dago,  in  the  western- 
most part  of  LJTonia,  to  its  most  eaateiu  limits, 
takes  in  near  one  hundred  and  seventy  degrees, 
BO  that  when  it  is  noon  in  the  western  parts  of  the 
empire,  it  is  nearly  midnight  in  the  eastern.  Ita 
breadth  from  north  to  south  is  three  thousand  six 
hundred  wersts,  which  make  eight  hundred  and 
fifty  of  our  common  French  leagues. 

The  limits  of 'iiis  country  were  so  little  known 
in  the  last  century,  that,  in  1689,  when  it  was  re- 
ported, that  the  Chinese  and  the  P.ii3?ians  ware 
at  war,  and  that  in  order  to  terminate  their  Qif- 
ferences,  the  emperor  Camhi  on  the  one  hand,  anl 
tlie  czars  Ivan  or  John,  and  Peter,  on  the  other, 
had  sent  their  ministers  to  meet  an  embassy  with- 
in three  hundred  leagues  of  Pekin,  on  the  frontiers 
of  the  two  empires,  the  account  was  at  first  treated 
as  a  fiction. 

The  country  now  comprehended  under  the  name 

*  A  French  league  contains  three  English  miles. 


205100.5 


4  HISTORY  OF 

of  Russia,  or  the  Russias,  is  of  a  greater  extent 
than  all  the  rest  of  Europe,  or  than  ever  the  Roman 
empire  was,  or  that  of  Darius  subdued  by  Alex- 
ander ;  for  it  contains  upwards  of  one  million  one 
hundred  thousand  square  leagues.  Neither  the 
Roman  empire,  nor  that  of  Alexander,  contained 
more  than  live  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  each  ; 
and  there  is  not  a  kingdom  in  Europe  the  twelfth 
part  so  extensive  as  trie  Roman  empire ;  but  to 
make  Russia  as  populous,  a?  plentiful,  and  as  well 
stored  with  towns  as  our  southern  countrie.-,  would 
require  whole  ages,  and  a  race  of  monarchs  such 
as  Peter  the  Great. 

The  English  ambassador,  who  resided  at  Peters- 
burg in  1733,  and  who  had  been  at  iMadrid,  says, 
in  his  manuscript  relation,  that  in  Spain,  which 
is  the  least  populous  state  in  Europe,  there  may 
be  reckoned  forty  persons  to  every  square  mile, 
and  in  I'ussia  not  above  five.  We  shall  see  in 
the  second  chapter,  whether  this  minister  was 
mistaken,  Marshal  Vauban,  the  greatest  of  en- 
gineers, and  the  best  of  citizens,  computes,  that, 
in  France,  every  square  mile  contains  two  hun- 
dred inhabitants.  These  calculations  are  never 
very  exact,  but  they  serve  to  shew  the  amazing 
disproportion  in  the  population  of  two  different 
countries. 

1  shall  observe  here,  that  from  Petersburg  to 
Pekin,  there  is  hardly  one  mountain  to  be  met  with 
in  the  route  which  the  caravans  might  take  through 
independent  Tartary,  and  that  from  Petersburg 
to  the  north  of  France,  by  the  road  of  Dantzic, 
Hamburg,  and  Amsterdam,  there  is  not  even  a 
hill  of  any  eminence  to  be  seen.  This  observa- 
tion leaves  room  to  doubt  of  the  truth  of  that 
^eory,  which  makes  the  mountains  to  have  been 
formed  by  the  rolling  of  the  waves  of  the  sea,  and 
supposes  all  that  is  at  present  dry  land,  to  have 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  5 

been  for  a  long  time  covered  with  water :  but  how 
comes  it  to  pass,  that  the  waves,  which,  according 
to  the  supposition,  formed  the  Alps,  the  Pyrenees, 
and  Mount  Taurus,  did  not  likewise  form  some 
eminence  or  hill  from  Normandy  to  China,  which 
is  a  winding  space  of  above  three  thousand 
leagues  ?  Geography,  thus  considered,  may  fur- 
nish lights  to  natural  philosophy,  or  at  least  give 
room  for  rational  doubts. 

Formerly  we  called  Russia  by  the  name  of  Mus- 
covy, from  the  city  of  Moscow,  the  capital  of  that 
empire,  and  the  residence  of  the  grand  dukes :  but 
at  present  the  ancient  name  of  Russia  prevails. 

It  is  not  my  business  in  this  place  to  inquire, 
why  the  countries  from  Smolensko,  to  the  other 
side  of  Moscow,  were  called  White  Russia,  or 
why  Hubner  gives  it  the  name  of  Black,  nor  for 
what  reason  the  government  of  Kiow  should  be 
named  lied  Russia, 

It  is  very  likely  that  Madies  the  Scythian,  who 
made  an  irruption  into  Asia,  near  seven  hundred 
years  before  our  vulgar  a;ra,  might  have  carried 
his  arms  into  these  regions,  as  Gengis-Khan  and 
Tamerlane  did  afterwards,  and  as  probably  others 
had  done  long  before  Madies.  P^ery  part  of 
antiquity  is  not  deserving  of  our  inquiries  ;  that 
of  the  Chinese,  the  Indians,  the  Persians,  and  the 
Egyptians,  is  ascertained  from  illustrious  and  in- 
teresting monuments  ;  but  these  monuments  sup- 
pose others  of  a  far  more  ancient  date,  since  it 
required  many  ages  to  teach  men  the  art  of  trans- 
mitting their  thoughts  by  permanent  signs,  and 
no  less  time  was  required  to  form  a  regular  lan- 
guage ;  and  yet  we  have  no  such  monuments  even 
in  this  polite  part  of  Tvurope.  The  art  of  writing 
was  a  long  time  unknown  to  all  the  North :  the 
patriarch  Constantine,  who  wrote  the  history  of 
Kiow  in  the  Russian  language,  acknowledges, 


6  HISTORY  OF 

that  the  use  of  ■aTiting  was  LOt  known  in  thcsa 
countries  in  the  fifth  century. 

Let  others  examine  whether  the  Huns,  the 
Slari,  and  the  Tartars,  formerly  led  their  wander- 
ing and  famished  tribes  towards  the  source  of  the 
Boristhenes  ;*  my  design  is  to  shew  what  czar 
peter  created,  and  not  to  en-'age  in  a  useless 
attempt,  to  clear  up  the  chaos  of  antiquity.  We 
should  always  keep  in  mind,  that  no  family  upon 
earth  knows  its  first  founder,  and  consequentlv, 
that  no  nation  knows  its  first  origin. 

I  use  the  name  of  Russians  to  designate  the  in- 
habitants of  this  great  empire.  That  of  Roxola- 
nians,  which  was  formerly  given  them,  would  in- 
deed be  more  sonorous,  bur.  we  shall  conform  to 
the  custom  of  the  language  in  which  we  write. 
News-papers  and  other  memoirs  have  for  some 
time  used  the  word  Russians  ;  but  as  this  name 
comes  too  near  to  that  of  Prussians,  I  sliall  abide 
by  that  of  Russ,  which  almost  all  our  writers  have 
given  them.  Besides,  it  appeared  to  me,  that  the 
most  extensive  people  on  the  earth  ought  to  be 
known  by  some  appellation  that  may  distinguish 
them  absolutely  from  all  other  nations. t 

This  empire  is  at  present  divided  into  sixteen 
large  governments,  that  will  one  day  be  sub- 
divided, when  the  northern  and  eastern  countries 
come  to  be  more  inhabited. 

•  The  Boristhenes,  or  Dnieper,  is  one  of  the  largest 
rivers  in  Europe  ;  it  rises  in  the  Walchonske  Forest,  runs 
through  Lithuania,  the  country  of  the  Zoporag  Cossacks, 
and  that  of  the  Kagicch  Tartars,  and  falls  into  the  Black 
Sea  near  Oczakow.  It  has  thirteen  cataracts  within  a 
imal!  distance. 

t  The  reader  will  easily  perceive,  that  the  whole  of  this 
paragraph  relates  only  to  the  French  language,  for  in 
Engli&b  we  make  no  such  distinctions  in  the  name  of  tbeM 
peoplo.  but  always  call  them  Russians. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  f 

These  sixteen  governments,  which  contain  se> 
»eral  immense  provinces  are  the  following : — • 

LIVONIA. 

The  nearest  province  to  our  part  of  the  world 
is  that  of  Livonia,  one  of  the  most  fruitful  in  the 
vhole  North.  In  the  twelfth  century  the  inhabi- 
tants were  pagans ;  at  this  time  certain  merchants 
of  Bremen  and  Lubeck  traded  to  this  country,  and 
a  body  of  religious  crusaders,  called  port-glaives, 
or  sword  bearers,  who  were  afterwards  incorpo- 
rated in  the  Teutonic  order,  made  themselves 
masters  of  this  province  in  the  thirteenth  century, 
at  the  time  when  the  fury  of  the  crusades  armed 
the  Christians  against  every  one  who  was  not  of 
their  religion.  Albert,  margrave  of  Brandenburg, 
grand-master  of  these  religious  conquerors,  made 
himself  sovereign  of  Livonia  and  of  Branden- 
burg-Prussia, about  the  year  1514.  From  that 
time,  the  Russians  and  Poles  began  to  dispute  for 
the  possession  of  this  province  Soon  afterwards 
it  was  invaded  by  the  Swedes,  and  for  a  long 
while  continued  to  be  ravaged  by  these  several 
powers.  Gustavus  Adolphus  having  conquered 
it,  it  was  then  ced#d  to  the  Swedes  in  1660,  by 
the  famous  treaty  of  Oliva  ;  and,  at  length,  c/.ar 
Peter  wrested  it  from  these  latter,  as  will  be  seen 
in  the  course  of  this  history. 

Courland,  which  joins  to  Livonia,  is  still  in 
Tassalage  to  Poland,  though  it  depends  greatly 
upon  Russia.  These  are  the  western  limits  of 
this  empire  in  Christendom. 

Of  the  Govrrnmentu  of 
REVEL,  PETERSBURG,  and  WYBURG. 

More  northward  is  the  government  of  Revel  and 
Esthonia.     Revel  was  built  bj  the  Danes  iathe 


8  HISTORY  OF 

thirteenth  centurj.     The  Swedes  were  in  posses- 

eion  of  this  province,  from  the  time  that  country 
put  itself  under  the  protection  of  that  crown  in 
1561.  This  is  another  of  the  conquests  of  Peter 
the  Great. 

On  the  borders  of  Esthonia  lies  the  gulf  of 
Finland.  To  the  eastward  of  this  sea,  and  at  the 
junction  of  the  Neva  with  the  lake  Ladoga,*  is 
situated  Petersbvirg,  the  most  modem  and  best 
built  city  in  the  whole  empire,  fcmded  by  czai 
Peter,  in  Bjjite  of  all  the  united  obstacles  which 
opposed  its  foundation. 

This  city  is  situated  on  the  bay  of  Kronstat,  in 
the  midst  of  nine  rivers,  by  which  its  different 
quarters  aie  divided.  In  the  centre  of  this  city 
is  almost  an  impregnable  fortress,  built  on  an 
i^land,  formed  by  the  main-stream  of  the  river 
Neva  :  seven  canals  are  cut  from  the  rivers,  and 
wash  the  walls  of  one  of  the  royal  palaces  of  the 
admiralty,  of  the  dock-yard  for  the  galleys,  and 
of  several  buildings  of  manufactories.  Thirty-five 
large  churches  contribute  to  adorn  the  city  ;  among 
which  five  are  allotted  for  foreigners  of  the  Roman 
Catholic.  Calvmist,  and  Lutheran  religions  :  these 
are  as  so  many  temples  raised  to  toleration,  and 
examples  to  other  nations.  1  heVe  are  five  palaces; 
the  old  one,  called  the  summer  palace,  situated 
on  the  river  Neva,  has  a  very  large  and  beautiful 
stone  balustrade,  which  runs  all  along  the  river 
side.  The  new  summer  palace  near  the  triumphal 
gate,  is  one  of  the  finest  pieces  of  architecture  in 
Europe  ihe  admiralty  buildings,  the  school  for 
cadets,  the  imperial  college,  the  academy  of 
sciences,  the  exchange,  and  the  merchants'  ware- 
houses, are  all  magnificent  structures,  and  monu- 

•  A  collection  of  water  lying  between  the  gulf  of  Fin. 
land  and  lake  Onega  ;  it  is  the  largest,  and  said  to  contaiD 
a  greater  number  of  fish  than  any  other  in  Europe, 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  9 

merits  of  taste  and  public  utility.  The  town-house, 
the  public  dispensary,  where  all  the  vessels  are 
of  procelain,  the  court  magazines,  the  foundery, 
the  arsenal,  the  bridges,  the  markets,  the  squares, 
the  barracks  for  the  horse  and  foot  guards,  con- 
tribute at  once  to  the  embellishment  and  safety 
of  the  city,  which  is  said  to  contain  at  present 
four  hundred  thousand  souls.  In  the  environs  of 
the  city  are  several  villas  or  country-seats,  which 
surprise  all  travellers  by  thtir  magnificence. 
There  is  one  in  particular  which  has  water-works 
superior  to  those  of  Versailles.  There  was  no- 
thing of  ail  this  in  1702,  the  whole  being  then  an 
impassable  morass.  Petersburg  is  considered  as 
the  capital  of  Ingria,  a  small  province  subdued 
by  Peter  I.  Wyburg,  another  of  his  conquests, 
and  that  part  of  Finland  which  was  lost,  and  ceded 
by  the  Swedes  in  1742,  make  another  govern- 
ment. 

ARCHANGEL. 

Higher  up,  proceeding  towards  the  north,  is 
the  province  of  Archangel,  a  country  entirely  new 
to  the  southern  nations  of  Europe.  It  took  its 
name  from  St.  Michael,  the  Archangel,  under 
whose  patronage  it  was  put  long  after  the  Rus- 
sians had  embraced  Christianity,  which  did  not 
happen  till  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury ;  and  they  were  not  known  to  the  other  na- 
tions of  Europe  till  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth. 
The  English,  in  1633,  endeavouring  to  find  out  a 
north-east  jtassageto  the  East  Indies,  Chancellor, 
captain  of  one  of  the  ships  fitted  out  for  this  ex- 
pedition, discovered  the  port  of  Archangel  in  the 
White  Sea ;  at  that  time  it  was  a  desert  place, 
having  only  one  convent,  and  a  little  church,  de» 
dicated   o  St.  Michael,  the  Archangel. 


10  HISTORY  OF 

The  Fngiish  sailing  up  the  river  DNvina,*  nr* 
rived  at  the  midland  part  of  the  country,  and  at 
lengtb  at  .Moscow.  Here  tbey  easily  made  them- 
selves masters  of  the  trade  of  Russia,  wliich  waa 
removed  from  the  city  of  Novogorod,  where  it 
was  carrit^ii  on  by  land  to  this  sea-port,  which  is 
inaccessible  indeed  during  seven  months  in  the 
year  ;  iiut,  nevertheless,  this  trade  proved  more 
beneficial  to  the  empire  than  the  fairs  of  Novo- 
gorod,  that  had  fallen  to  decay  in  consequence 
of  the  \v:iTs  with  Sweden.  The  English  obtained 
the  pri  ilege  of  trading  thither  without  paying 
any  duiies  :  a  manner  of  trading  which  is  appa- 
rently the  most  beneficial  to  all  nations.  The 
Dutch  soon  came  in  for  a  share  of  the  trade  of 
Archangel,  then  unknown  to  other  nations. 

Long  before  this  time,  the  Genoese  and  Vene- 
tians had  established  a  trade  with  the  Russians 
by  the  nic  ath  of  the  Tanais  or  Don.t  where  thej 
had  built  a  town  called  Tana.  This  branch  of 
the  Italian  commerce  was  destroyed  by  the  ra- 
vages of  Tamerlane,  in  that  part  of  the  world  : 
but  that  of  Archangel  continued,  with  great  ad- 
vantages l)oth  to  the  English  and  Dutch,  till  the 
time  that  Peter  the  Great  opened  a  passage  into 
his  dominions  by  the  Baltic  Sea. 

*  We  mnst  not  confound  this  river  with  another  of 
the  same  name  that  runs  through  Lithuania  in  Poland, 
and  dividing  Livonia  and  Courland,  fails  icto  the  Baltio 
tt  Dunamunder  fort,  below  Riga. 

t  1  his  was  Dv  the  ancients  reckoned  among;  the  meet 
famons  ri-^ers  in  the  world,  and  the  boundary  between 
Asia  and  Europe.  It  issues  from  St.  John's  Lake,  not 
far  from  Tula,  aod  after  a  long  course,  divides  itself  iate 
three  arms,  and  falls  into  the  sea  below  Aaoph. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  il 

RUSSIAN  LAPLAND. 

Of  the  Government  of  Arrhaitget. 

To  the  west  of  Archangel,  and  within  its  go- 
Terninent,  lies  Russian  Lapland,  the  third  part 
of  this  country,  the  other  two  belonging  to  Sweden 
and  Denmark.  This  is  a  very  large  tract,  oc- 
cupying about  eight  degrees  of  longitude,  and  ex- 
tending in  latitude  from  one  polar  circle  to  the 
North  Cape.*  The  natives  of  this  country  were 
confusedly  known  to  the  ancients,  under  the 
name  of  troglodytes  and  northern  pigmies  ;  ap- 
pellations suitable  enough  to  men,  who,  for  the 
most  part,  are  not  above  four  feet  and  a  half  high, 
and  dwell  in  caverns ;  they  are  just  the  same 
people  they  were  at  that  time.  They  are  of  a 
tawny  complexion,  though  the  other  people  of 
the  north  are  white,  and  for  the  most  part  very 
low  in  stature  ;  though  their  neighbours,  and  the 
people  of  Iceland,  under  the  polar  circle,  are  tall  : 
they  seem  made  for  their  mountainous  country, 
being  nimble,  squat,  and  robust ;  their  skins  are 
hard,  the  better  to  resist  the  cold,  their  thighs 
and  legs  are  slender,  their  feet  small,  to  enable 
them  to  run  more  nimbly  amongst  the  rocks, 
with  which  their  province  is  covered.  They  are 
passionately  fond  of  their  own  country,  which 
none  but  themselves  can  be  pleased  with,  and 
are  able  to  live  no  where  else.  Some  have 
aflSrmed,  upon  the  credit  of  Olaus,  that  these 
people  were  originally  natives  of  Finland,  And 
thai  they  removed  into  Lapland,  where  they  di- 
minished in  stature  :  but  why  might  they  not  as 
well  have  made  choice  of  lands  less  northerly, 
where  the  conveniences  of  life  were  to  be  bad  in 

*  A  promontory  of  the  island  of  Maggern  in  the  north 
of  Monraj,  and  i»  the  moit  northern  point  in  Europe. 


12  HISTORY  OF 

greater  plentv  ?  How  comes  it  that  they  differ  so 
totally  from  their  pretended  ancestors  in  features, 
figure,  and  complexion  t  Methinks  we  might,  with 
as  great  reason,  suppose  that  the  grass  which 
grows  in  Lapland  is  produced  from  that  of  Den- 
mark, and  that  the  fishes,  peculiar  to  their  lakes, 
came  from  those  of  Sweden.  It  is  most  likely 
that  the  Laplanders  are,  like  their  animals,  the 
produce  of  their  own  country,  and  that  nature 
has  made  the  one  for  the  other. 

Those  who  inhabit  the  frontiers  of  Finland, 
have  adopted  some  of  the  expressions  of  their 
neighbours,  as  happens  to  every  people  :  but 
when  two  nations  give  to  things  of  common  use, 
to  objects  which  are  continually  before  their  eyes, 
names  absolutely  different,  it  affords  a  strong 
presumption,  that  one  of  them  is  not  a  colony 
from  the  other.  The  Finlanders  call  a  bear 
Karu,  the  Laplanders  Muriet :  the  sun  in  the 
Finnish  language  is  called  Auringa,  in  the  Lap- 
land tongue  Beve.  Here  is  not  the  least  ana- 
logy. The  inhabitants  of  Finland,  and  Swedish 
Lapland,  formerly  worshipped  an  idol  whom 
they  called  lumalac,  and  since  the  reign  of  Gus- 
tavus  Adolphus,  to  whom  they  are  indebted  for 
the  appellation  of  Lutherans,  they  call  Jesus  Christ 
the  son  of  lumalac.  The  Muscovite  or  Mus- 
sian  Laplanders,  are  at  present  thought  to  be  of 
the  Greek  church  ;  but  those  who  wander  about 
the  mountains  of  the  North  Cap^,  are  satisfied 
with  adoring  one  God  under  certain  rude  forms, 
as  has  been  the  ancient  custom  of  all  the  nations 
called  N(^mades,  or  wandering  nations. 

This  race  of  people,  who  are  inconsiderable  in 
numbers,  have  but  very  few  ideas,  and  are  happy 
in  not  having  more,  which  would  only  occasion 
them  to  have  new  wants  which  they  could  not 
satisfy  :  at  present  they  live  contented,  and  free^ 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  13 

from  diseases,  notwithstanding  the  excessive 
coldness  of  their  climate  ;  they  drink  nothing 
but  water,  and  attain  to  a  great  age.  The  cus- 
tom imputed  to  them  of  entreating  strangers  to 
lie  with  their  wives  and  daughters,  which  they 
esteem  as  an  honour  done  to  them,  probably  arose 
from  a  notion  of  the  si:periority  of  strangers,  and 
a  desire  of  amending,  by  their  means,  the  de- 
fects of  their  own  race.  This  was  a  custom  es- 
tablished amongst  the  virtuous  Lacedemonians, 
A  husband  would  entreat  a  favour  of  a  comely 
young  man,  to  give  him  handsome  children,  whom 
he  might  adopt.  Jealousy,  and  the  laws,  pre- 
vent the  rest  of  mankind  from  giving  their  wives 
up  to  the  embraces  of  another  ;  but  the  Lap- 
landers have  few  or  no  laws,  and  are  in  all  pro- 
bability, strangers  to  jealousy. 

MOSCOW. 

Ascending  the  river  Dwina  from  north  to  south, 
we  travel  up  the  country  till  we  come  to  Moscow, 
the  capital  of  the  empire.  This  city  was  long 
the  centre  of  the  Russian  dominions,  before  they 
were  extended  on  the  side  of  China  and  Persia. 

Moscow,  lying  in  55  degrees  and  a  half,  north 
latitude,  in  a  warmer  climate,  and  more  fruitful 
soil  than  that  of  Petersburg,  is  situated  in  the 
midst  of  a  large  and  delightful  plain  on  the  river 
Moskwa,  and  t\*o  lesser  rivers,  which  with  the 
former  lose  themselves  in  the  Occa,  and  after- 
wards help  to  swell  the  stream  of  the  Wolga. 
This  city,  in  the  ISth  century,  was  only  a  col- 
lection of  hats  inhabited  by  a  set  of  miserable 
wretches,  oppressed  by  the  descendants  of  Gengis 
Khan. 

The  Kremlin,  or  ancient  palace  of  the  great 
dakes,  was  not  built  till  the  Hth  century;  of 
such  modern  date  are  cities  in  this  part  of  the 


14  HISTORY  OF 

world.  This  oalace  was  built  by  Italian  archi- 
tects, as  -were  several  churches  in  the  Gothic 
taste  which  then  prevailed  throughout  all  Eurojw;. 
There  are  two  built  by  the  famous  Aristotle,  of  Bo- 
logna, who  flourished  in  the  13th  century ;  but  thr 
private  houses  were  no  better  than  wooden  huts. 

The  first  writer  who  brought  us  acquaiutfd 
with  Moscow,  was  Olearius  ;  who,  in  163r),  wett 
thither  as  the  companion  of  an  embassy  from  the 
duke  of  Holstein.  A  native  of  Holstein  must 
naturally  be  struck  with  wonder  at  the  immense 
extent  of  the  city  of  Moscow,  with  its  five  quar- 
ters, especially  the  magnificent  one  belonging  to 
the  czars,  and  with  the  Asiatic  splendour  which 
then  reigned  at  that  court.  There  was  nothing: 
equal  to  it  in  Germany  at  that  time,  nor  any  city 
by  far  so  extensive  or  well  peopled. 

On  the  contrary,  the  earl  of  Carlisle,  who  was 
ambassador  from  Charles  II.  to  the  czar  Alexis, 
in  163:'>,  complains  i  .  his  relation  that  he  could 
not  meet  with  any  one  convenience  of  life  in  Mop- 
cow  ;  no  inns  on  the  road,  nor  refreshments  of 
any  kind.  One  judged  as  a  German,  the  otht-r 
as  an  Englishman,  and  both  by  comparison.  The 
Englishman  was  shocked  to  see  mosi  of  the  Boy- 
ards  or  Muscovite  noblemen,  sleep  upon  boards 
or  benches,  with  only  the  .skins  of  animals  under 
them  ;  but  this  was  the  ancient  practice  of  ali 
nations.  The  houses,  whicii  were  almost  all  built 
of  wood,  had  scarcely  any  furniture  ,  few  or  none 
of  their  tables  were  covered  with  cloth ;  there 
was  no  pavement  in  the  streets  ;  nothing  agree- 
able ;  nothing  convenient ;  very  few  artificers,  and 
those  few  extremely  awkward,  and  employed 
only  in  works  of  absolute  necessity.  These  people 
might  have  passed  for  Spartans,  had  they  been 
Bober. 

But,  on  public  days,  the  court  displays  all  the 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  15 

Bplendour  cf  a  Persian  monarch.  The  earl  says, 
he  could  see  nothing  but  gold  and  precious  stones 
on  the  robes  of  the  czar  and  his  courtiers.  These 
dresses  were  not  manufactured  in  the  country  ; 
and  yet,  it  is  evident,  that  the  people  might  be 
rendered  industrious  long  before  that  time.  In 
the  reign  of  the  czar  Boris  Godonow,  the  largest 
bell  was  cast  at  Moscow,  in  Europe  ;  and  in  the 
patriarchal  church  there  were  several  ornaments 
in  silver,  worked  in  a  very  curious  manner. 
These  pieces  of  workmanship,  which  were  made 
under  the  direction  of  Germans  and  Italians, 
were  only  transient  efforts.  It  is  daily  industry, 
and  the  continual  exercise  of  a  threat  number  of 
arts,  that  makes  a  nation  flourishing.  Poland, 
and  the  neighbouring  nations,  were  at  that  time 
very  little  superior  to  the  Russians.  The  handi- 
craft trades  were  not  in  greater  perfection  in  the 
north  ot  Germany,  nor  were  the  polite  arts  much 
better  known,  than  in  the  middle  of  the  seven- 
teenth century. 

Though  the  city  of  Moscow,  at  that  time,  had 
neither  the  magnificence  nor  arts  of  our  great 
cities  in  Europe,  yet  its  circumference  of  twenty 
miles  ;  the  part  called  the  Chinese  town,  where 
all  the  rarities  of  China  are  exhibited  ;  the  spa- 
cious quarter  of  the  Kremlin,  where  stood  the 
palace  of  the  czars  ;  the  gilded  domes,  the  lofty 
and  conspicuous  turrets;  and,  lastly,  the  prodi- 
gious number  of  its  inhabitants,  amounting  to 
near  500, ()()().  All  this  together,  rendered  Mos- 
cow one  of  the  most  considerable  cities  in  the 
world. 

Theodore,  or  Fccdor,  eldest  brother  to  Peter 
the  Great,  began  to  improve  .Moscow.  He  or- 
dered several  large  houses  to  be  built  of  stone, 
though  without  any  regular  architecture.  He 
encouraged  the  principal  persons  of  his  court  to 


J6  HISTORY  OF 

build,  advancing  them  sums  of  money,  and  fur- 
nishing ihem  with  materials.  He  was  the  first 
who  collected  studs  of  fine  horses,  and  made  se- 
veral useful  embellishments.  Peter,  who  was 
attentive  to  every  thing,  did  not  neglect  Moscow 
at  the  time  he  was  building  Petersburg  ;  for  he 
caused  it  to  be  paved,  adorned  it  with  noble  edi- 
fices, and  enriched  it  with  manufactures  ;  and, 
within  these  few  years,  M.  de  Showalow,  high 
chamberlain  to  the  empress  Elizabeth,  daughter 
to  Peter  the  Great,  has  founded  an  university  in 
this  city.  This  is  the  same  person  who  furnished 
me  with  the  memorials,  from  which  1  have  com- 
piled the  present  history,  and  who  was  himself 
much  more  capable  to  have  done  it,  even  in  the 
French  language,  had  not  his  great  modesty  de- 
termined him  to  resign  the  task  to  me,  as  will 
evidently  appear  from  his  own  letters  on  this  sub- 
ject, which  1  have  deposited  in  the  public  library 
of  Geneva. 

SMOLENSKO. 

Westward  of  the  duchy  of  Moscow,  is  that  of 
Smolensko,  a  part  of  the  ancient  Sarmatia  Eu- 
ropea.  The  duchies  of  Moscow  and  Smolensko 
composed  what  is  properly  called  White  Russia. 
Smolensko,  which  at  first  belonged  to  the  great 
dukes  of  Russia,  was  conquered  by  the  great  duke 
of  Lithuania,  in  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  and  was  retaken  one  hundre-l  years  af- 
terwards by  its  old  masters.  Sigismund  111.  king 
of  Poland,  got  possession  of  it  in  1611.  'i'he  czar 
Alexis,  father  of  Peter  I.  recovered  it  again  in 
1654,  since  which  time  it  has  always  constituted 
part  of  the  Russian  empire.  1  he  panegyric  of 
Peter  the  Great,  pronounced  iu  the  academy 
of  sciences  at  Paris,  takes  notice,  that  before 
his  time  the  Russians  had  made  no  conquests 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  I7 

either  to  the  west  or  south  ;  but  this  is  evidently 
a  mistake. 

Of  the  Governments  of 
NOVOGOROD  and  KIOW,  or  the  UKRAINE. 

Between  Petersburg  and  Smolensk©,  lies  the 
province  of  Novogorod  ;*  and  is  said  to  be  the 
country  in  which  the  ancient  Sluvi,  or  Sclavo- 
nians,  made  their  first  settlements.  But  from 
wjjence  came  these  Sla>:i,  whose  language  has 
•pread  over  all  the  north-east  part  of  Europe  1 
SLa  signifies  a  chief,  and  blare  one  belonging  to  a 
chief.  All  that  we  know  concerning  these  an- 
cient Slaves  is,  that  they  were  a  race  of  conquer- 
ors ;  that  they  buiit  the  city  of  Novogorod  the 
Great,  at  the  head  of  a  navigable  river  ;  and  that 
this  city  was  for  a  long  time  in  possession  of  a 
flourishing  trade,  and  was  a  potent  ally  to  the 
Hanse  Towns.  Czar  Iwan  Wassiliawitsch  (or 
John  Basilowitz)  made  a  conquest  of  it  in  1467, 
and  carried  away  all  its  riches,  which  contri- 
buted to  the  magnificence  of  the  court  of  Moscow, 
till  then  almost  unknown; 

'I'o  the  south  of  the  province  of  Smolensko,  we 
meet  with  the  province  of  Kiow,  otherwise  called 
the  Lessor  Russia,  lied  Russia,  or  the  Ukraine, 
through  which  runs  the  Dnieper,  called  by  the 
Greeks  the  Boristhenes.  The  difference  of  these 
two  names,  the  one  so  harsh  to  pronounce,  and 
the  other  so  melodious,  served  to  shew  us,  toge- 
ther with  a  hundred  other  like  instances,  the 
rudeness  of  all  the  ancient  people  of  the  North, 
in  comparison  with  the  graces  of  the  Greek  lan- 
guage. Kiow,  the  capital  city,  formerly  Kisow, 
was  built  by  the  emperors  of  Constantinople,  who 
made  it  a  colony  :  here  are  still  to  be  seen  seve- 

•  GrodjOr  gorod.iignifiescil^'  in  iLe  Russian  laiiguagp. 


18  HISTORY  OF 

ral  Greek  inscriptions  upwards  of  t«  elve  hundred 
years  old.  'ibis  is  the  only  city  of  any  antiquity 
iu  these  countries,  where  men  lived  so  long  to- 
gether without  building  walls.  Hrre  it  was  that 
the  great  dukes  of  Russia  held  their  residence 
in  the  eleventh  century,  before  the  Tartars  brought 
it  under  their  subjection. 

The  inhabitants  of  theUkraine.calledCossacks, 
are  a  mixture  of  the  ancient  Roxolaniacs,  Sar- 
matiaiis,  and  I'artars,  blended  together.  Rome 
and  Constantinople,  though  so  long  the  mistress 
of  other  nations,  are  not  to  compare  in  fertility 
of  country  with  the  Ukraine.  Nature  has  there 
exerted  her  utmost  efforts  for  the  service  of  man- 
kind ;  but  they  have  not  seconded  those  efforts 
by  industry,  living  only  upon  the  spontaneous 
productions  of  an  uncultivated,  but  fruitful  soil, 
and  the  exercise  of  rapine.  Though  fond,  to  a 
degree  of  enthusiasm,  of  that  most  valuable  of  all 
blessings,  liberty ;  yet  they  were  always  in  sub- 
jection, either  to  the  Poles  or  to  the  Turks,  till 
the  year  1654,  when  they  threw  themselves  into 
the  arms  of  Russia,  but  with  some  limitations. 
At  length  thev  were  entirely  subdued  by  Peter 
the  Great. 

Other  nations  are  divided  into  cities  and  tovtus; 
this  into  ten  regiments.  At  the  head  of  which 
is  a  chief,  who  used  to  be  elected  by  a  majority 
of  votes,  and  is  called  by  the  name  of  Hetman, 
or  Itman.  This  captain  of  the  nation  was  not 
invested  with  supreme  power.  At  present  the 
itman  is  a  person  nominated  by  the  czar,  from 
among  the  great  lords  of  the  court ;  and  is,  in 
fact,  no  more  that  the  governor  of  the  province, 
like  governors  of  the  pays  d'etats  in  France,  that 
have  retained  some  privileges. 

At  first  the  inhabitants  of  this  country  were 
ail  either  Pagans  or  Mahometans;  but,  when 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  19 

they  entered  into  the  service  of  Poland,  they 
were  baptized  Cliristians  of  the  Roman  commu- 
nion ;  ajd  now,  that  they  are  in  the  service  of 
Russia,  they  belong  to  the  Greek  church. 

Amongst  these  are  comprehended  the  Zapora- 
vian  Cossacks,  who  are  much  the  same  as  our 
Bucaniers,  or  freebooters,  living  upon  rapine. 
They  are  distinguished  from  all  other  people,  by 
never  admitting  women  to  live  among  them  ;  as 
the  Amazons  are  said  never  to  have  admitted  any 
man.  1  he  women,  whom  they  make  use  of  for 
propagation,  live  upon  other  islands  on  the  river; 
they  have  no  marriages  amongst  them,  nor  any 
domestic  economy  ;  they  inroll  the  male  chil- 
dren in  their  militia,  and  leave  the  girls  to  the 
care  of  their  mothers.  A  brother  has  frequently 
children  by  his  sister,  and  a  fa 'her  by  his  daughter. 
They  know  no  other  laws  than  customs,  intro- 
duced by  necessity  :  however,  they  make  use  of 
some  prayers  from  the  Greek  ritual.  Fort  St. 
Elizabeth  has  been  lately  built  on  the  Boristhenee, 
to  keep  them  in  awe.  They  serve  as  irregulars 
in  the  Russian  armies,  and  hapless  is  the  fate  of 
those  who  fail  into  their  hands. 

Of  the  Governments  of 
BKLGOROD,  WORONITZ,  and  ^  ISCHGOROD. 

To  the  noith-east  of  the  province  of  Kiow,  be- 
tween the  boristhenes  and  the  Tanais,  or  Don, 
is  the  government  of  Belgorod,  which  is  as  large 
as  that  of  Kiow.  This  is  one  of  the  most  fniitful 
provinces  of  Russia,  and  furnishes  Poland  with 
a  prodigious  number  of  that  large  cattle  known 
bj  the  name  of  Ukraine  oxen.  These  two  pro- 
vinces are  secured  from  the  incursions  of  the 
petty  Tartar  tribes,  by  lines  extending  from  the 
Boristhenes  to  the  Tanais,  and  well  furnished 
with  forts  and  redoubts. 


eo  HISTORY  OF 

Farther  nortliward  we  cross  the  Tanais,  and 
come  into  the  government  of  Worownitz,  or  Ve- 
ronise,  which  extends  as  far  as  the  bai-.ks  of  the 
Palus  Ma^otis.  In  the  neighbourhood  of  the  ca- 
pital of  this  province,  which  is  called,  by  the 
Russians,  Woronestch.at  the  mouth  of  the  river 
of  the  same  name,  which  falls  into  the  Don, 
Peter  the  Great  built  his  first  fleet;  an  undertaking 
which  was  at  that  time  entirely  new  to  the  in- 
habitants of  these  vast  dominions.  From  thenco 
we  come  to  the  government  of  Nischgorod, 
abounding  with  grain,  and  is  watered  by  the  river 
Wolga. 

ASTRACAN. 

From  the  latter  province  we  proceed  southward 
to  the  kingdom  of  Astracan.  'i'his  country 
reaches  from  forty-three  and  a  half  degrees 
north  latitude  (in  a  most  delightful  climate)  to 
near  fifty,  including  about  as  many  degrees  of 
longitude  as  of  latitude.  It  is  bounded  on  one 
side  by  the  Caspian  Sea,  and  on  the  other  by  the 
mountains  of  Circassia,  projecting  beyond  the 
Caspian,  along  mount  Caucasus.  It  is  watered 
by  the  great  river  Woiga,  the  Jaick,  and  several 
other  lesser  streams,  between  which,  accord- 
ing to  I\Ir.  Perry,  the  English  engineer,  canals 
might  be  cut,  that  would  serve  as  reservoirs  to 
receive  the  overflowing  of  the  waters  ;  and  by 
that  means  answer  the  same  purposes  as  the 
canals  of  the  Nile,  and  make  the  soil  more 
fruitful  :  but  to  the  right  and  left  of  the  Wolga 
and  Jaick,  this  fine  country  was  inhabited,  or 
rather  infested,  by  Tartars,  who  never  apply 
themselves  to  agriculture,  but  have  always  lived 
as  strangers  and  sojourners  upon  the  face  of  the 
earth. 

The  above  named  engineer,  Perry,  who  was 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  21 

employed  by  Peter  the  Great  in  these  parts,  found 
a  vast  track,  of  land  covered  with  pasture,  le^- 
minous  plants,  cherry  and  almond  trees,  and 
large  flocks  of  wild  sheep,  who  fed  in  these  so- 
litary places,  and  whose  flesh  was  excellent.  The 
inhabitants  of  these  countries  must  be  conquered 
and  civilized,  in  order  to  second  the  efforts  of 
nature,  who  has  been  forced  in  the  climate  of 
Petersburg. 

The  kingdom  of  Astracan  is  a  part  of  the  an- 
cient Capshak,  conquered  by  Gengis-KKan,  and 
afterwards  bv  Tamerlane,  whose  dominion  ex- 
tended as  far  as  Moscow.  The  czar,  John 
Basilides,  grandson  of  John  Basilowitz,  and  the 
greatest  conqueror  of  all  the  Russian  princes, 
delivered  his  country  from  the  Tartarian  yoke, 
in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  added  the  kingdom 
of  Astracan  to  his  other  conquests,  in  lr)54. 

Astracan  is  the  boundary  of  Asia  and  Europe, 
and  is  so  situated  as  to  be  able  to  carry  on  a 
trade  with  both  ;  as  merchandizes  may  be  con- 
veyed from  tlie  Caspian  Sea,  up  to  this  town,  by 
means  of  tlie  Wolga.  This  was  one  of  the  grand 
schemes  of  Peter  the  Great,  and  has  been  partly 
carried  into  execution.  An  entire  su-burb  of  As- 
tracan is  inhabited  by  Indians. 

OREMBUKG. 

To  the  south-east  of  the  kingdom  of  Astracaa 
ift  a  small  country,  newly  planted,  called  Orem- 
burg.  Ihe  town  of  this  name  was  built  in  the 
year  1731,  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Jaick.  This 
province  is  thick  covered  with  hills,  that  are 
parts  of  Mount  Caucasus.  The  passes  in  these 
mountains,  and  of  the  rivers  that  run  down  from 
them,  are  defended  by  forts  raised  at  e()ual  dis- 
tances. In  this  rtgion,  formerly  uninhabited, 
\he  Persians  come  it  present,  to  hide  from  the 


if  HISTORY  OF 

rapacity  of  robbers,  such  of  their  effects  as  have 
CBcapc-d  the  fury  of  the  civil  wars.  Tlie  ritj  of 
Oreiubiirg  is  become  the  asylum  of  the  Persians 
and  their  riches,  and  is  grown  considerable  by 
their  calamities.  The  natives  of  Great  Bukari 
come  huher  to  trade,  so  that  it  is  become  the 
mart  of  Asia. 

Of  the  Government  of 
CASAN,  a/(do/ GREAT  PERMIA. 

Beyond  the  Wolga  and  Jaick,  towards  the 
north,  lies  the  kingdom  of  Casan,  which,  like  that 
of  Astracan,  fell  by  partition  to  one  of  the  sons 
of  Gengis  Khan,  and  afterwards  to  a  sou  of  Ta- 
merlane, and  was  at  length  conquered  by  John 
Basilides.  It  is  still  inhabited  by  a  number  of 
Mahometan  Tartars.  This  vast  country  stretches 
aa  far  as  Siberia  ;  it  is  allowed  to  have  been  for- 
merly very  flourishing  and  rich,  and  still  retains 
some  part  of  its  pristine  opulence.  A  province 
of  this  kingdom,  called  Great  Permia,  and  since 
Solikam,  was  the  staple  for  the  merchandizes  of 
Persia,  and  the  furs  of  Tartary.  i  here  has 
been  found  in  Permia  a  great  quantity  of  the 
coin  of  the  first  Caliphs,  and  some  Jartarian 
idols,  made  of  gold  ;*  but  these  monuments  of 
ancient  opulence  were  found  in  the  midst  of  bar- 
ren deserts  and  extreme  poverty,  where  there 
were  not  the  least  traces  of  commerce  :  revolu- 
tions of  this  nature  may  easily  happen  to  a  barren 
countrv,  seeing  they  are  so  soon  brought  about 
in  the  most  fruitful  provinces. 

The  famous  Swedish  prisoner,  Strahlemberg, 
who  made  such  advantageous  use  of  his  misfor- 
tunes, and  who  examined  those  extensive  coun- 
tries with  so  much  attention,  was  the  first  who 
•  Memoirs  of  Strahlemberg,  confirmed  by 
thoge  sent  me  from  Russia. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  23 

rave  an  air  of  probability  to  a  fact,  whicb  before 
had  beea  always  thougbt  incredible  ;  namely, 
concerning  the  ancient  commerce  of  these  pro- 
vinces. Piiuy  and  Pomponius  Mela  relate, that, 
in  the  reign  of  Augustus,  a  king  of  the  Suevi 
made  a  present  to  Metellus  Celer  of  some  In- 
dians who  had  been  cast  by  a  storm  upon  the 
coasts  bordering  on  the  Elbe.  But  how  couJd 
inhabitants  of  India  navigate  the  Germanic  seas  1 
This  adventure  was  deemed  fabulous  by  all  our 
moderns,  especially  after  the  change  made  in  the 
commerce  of  our  hemisphere  by  the  discovery  of 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  But  formerly  it  was 
no  more  extraordinary  to  see  an  Indian  trading 
to  the  parts  to  the  north-west  of  his  country,  than 
to  see  a  Roman  go  from  India  by  the  way  of 
Arabia.  The  Indians  went  to  Persia,  and  thence 
embarked  on  the  Hyrcanian  Sea,  and  ascending 
the  Rha,  now  the  Wolga,  got  to  Great  Permia 
through  the  river  Kama ;  from  whence  they 
might  take  shipping  again  on  the  Black  Sea,  or 
the  Baltic.  They  have,  in  all  times,  been  enter- 
prising men.  The  Tyrians  undertook  most  sur- 
prising voyages. 

If  after  surveying  all  these  vast  provinces,  we 
direct  our  view  towards  the  cast,  we  shall  find 
the  limits  of  Europe  and  Asia  again  confounded. 
A  new  name  is  wanting  for  a  considerable  part 
of  the  globe.  The  ancients  divided  their  known 
world  into  Kurope,  Asia,  and  Africa;  but  they 
had  not  seen  the  tenth  part  of  it :  hence  it  hap- 
pens, that  when  we  pass  the  Palus  Rlieotis  we 
are  at  a  loss  to  know  where  Europe  ends,  or 
Asia  begins  ;  all  that  tract  of  country  lying  bo- 
jfond  mount  Taurus  was  distinguished  by  the 
general  appellation  of  Scythia,  and  afterwards  by 
that  of  Tartary.  It  might  not  be  improper,  per- 
haps,  to   give   the   name  of  Terra;   Arctic3>,  or 


«4  HISTORY  OF 

Northern  Lands,  to  the  coantry  extending  from  the 
Baltic  Sea  to  the  confines  of  China  ;  as  that  of 
Terras  Australes,  or  Southern  Lands,  are  to  that 
equally  extensive  part  of  the  world,  situated  un- 
der the  Antarctic  Pole,  and  which  serves  to 
counterpoise  the  globe. 

Of  the  Governments  of 
SIBERIA,  o/i/ze  SAMOJEDES,  Me  0STIAK3 
KAMTSHATKA,  4c. 

Siberia,  with  the  territories  beyond  it,  extends 
from  the  frontiers  of  the  provinces  of  Archangel, 
Casan,  and  Astracaa,  eastward  as  far  as  the  sea 
of  Japan  :  it  joined  the  southern  parts  of  Russia 
by  Mount  Caucasus  ;  from  thence,  to  the  country 
of  Kamtshatka,  is  about  one  thousand  two  hun- 
dred computed  French  leagues  ;  and  from  south- 
em  Tartary,  which  serves  as  its  boundary,  to  the 
Frozen  Sea,  about  four  hundred,  which  is  the 
least  breadth  of  the  Russian  empire.  This  coun- 
try producevS  the  richest  furs  ;  and  this  occasion- 
ed the  discovery  of  it  in  the  year  1563. 

In  the  sixteenth  century,  in  the  reign  of  the 
cxar,  John  Basilides,  and  not  in  that  of  Foedor. 
Johannowitz,  a  private  person  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Archangel,  named  Anika,  one  tolerably 
richforhis  condition  of  life  and  country, took  notice 
that  certain  men  of  an  extraordinary  figure,  and 
dressed  in  a  manner  unknown  to  that  country,  and 
who  spoke  a  language  understood  by  none  but 
themselves,  came  every  year  down  a  river  which 
falls  into  the  Uwina,*  and  brought  martins  and 
black  foxes, which  they  trucked  for  nails  and  pieces 
of  glass  ;  just  as  the  first  savages  of  America  used 
to  exchange  their  gold  with  the  Spaniards:  he 
caused  them  to  be  followed  by  his  sons  and  ser- 
vants, as  far  as  their  own  country.  Theae  wero 
•  Memoirs  sent  from  Petersburg. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  8d 

the  Saraojedes,  a  people  who  seem  to  resemble 
the  Laplanders,  but  are  of  a  different  race.  They 
are,  like  that  people,  unacquainted  with  the  use 
of  bread  ;  and  like  them,  they  yoke  rein-deer  to 
draw  their  sledges.  They  live  in  caverns  and 
huts,  amidst  the  snow  ;  *  but  in  other  respec-ts, 
nature  has  made  a  visible  difference  between  this 
species  of  men  and  the  Laplanders.  Their  upper 
jaw  projects  forward,  so  as  to  be  on  a  level  with 
their  nose,  and  their  ears  are  placed  higher. 
Both  the  men  and  women  have  no  hair  in  any 
other  part  of  their  bodies,  but  their  heads;  and 
their  nipple  is  of  a  deep  black,  like  ebony.  The 
Lapland  men  and  women  are  distinguished  by  no 
such  marks.  By  memoirs  sent  from  these  coun- 
tries so  little  known,  1  have  been  informed,  that 
the  author  of  the  curious  natural  history  of  the 
king's  garden,  is  mistaken,  where,  in  speaking  of 
the  many  curiosities  of  human  nature,  he  con- 
founds the  Lapland  race  with  that  of  the  Samo- 
jedes.  There  are  many  more  different  species  of 
men  than  is  commonly  thought.  The  Samojedes, 
and  the  Hottentots,  seem  to  be  the  two  extremes 
of  our  continent ;  and  if  we  observe  the  black 
nipples  of  the  Samojedian  women,  and  the  apron 
wiOi  -which  nature  has  furnished  the  Hottentot 
females,  and  which  hangs  half  way  down  their 
thighs,  we  may  have  some  idea  of  the  great  va- 
riety of  our  animal  species,  a  variety  unknown 
10  those  inhabiting  great  cities,  who  are  gene- 
rally strangers  to  almost  every  thing  that  is  not 
immediately  within  their  view. 

The  Samojedes  are  as  singular  in  their  moral 
as  in  their  physical  distinctions  ;  tliey  pay  no 
worship  to  the  Supreme  Being  ;  they  border  upon 
Manicheism,  or  rather  upon  tJie  religion  of   the 

*  Memoir*  lent  frond  Petersburg. 

B 


26  HISTORY  OF 

wcient  Magi  in  this  one  point,  that  they  acknow> 
ledge  a  good  and  an  evil  principle.  The  horrible 
climate  they  inhabit  may  in  some  measure  excuse 
this  belief,  which  is  of  such  ancient  date,  and  so 
natural  to  those  who  are  ignorant  and  unhappy. 

Theft,  or  murder,  is  never  heard  of  amongst 
them  ;  being  in  a  manner  devoid  of  passions, 
they  are  strangers  to  injustice  ;  they  have  no 
terms  in  tb^ir  language  to  denote  vice  and  vir- 
tue, their  extreme  simplicity  has  not  yet  permit- 
ted them  to  form  abstract  ideas,  they  are  wholly 
guided  by  pensation,  and  this  is  perhaps  an  in- 
contestable proof  that  men  naturally  love>justice, 
when  not  blinded  by  inordinate  passions. 

Some  of  these  savages  were  prevailed  on  to 
suffer  themselves  to  be  carried  to  Mo^-cow,  where 
many  things  they  saw  struck  them  with  admira- 
tion. Thev  gazed  upon  the  emperor  as  their 
god,  and  voluntarily  engaged  for  themselves  and 
countrsmen  a  present  of  two  martens,  or  sables, 
every  year  for  each  inhabitant.  Colonies  were 
soon  settled  beyond  the  Oby,*  and  the  lrtis,t 
and  some  forts  built.  In  the  year  1595,  a  Cos- 
sack officer  was  sent  into  this  country,  who  con- 
quered it  for  the  czar  with  onlv  a  few  soldiers 
and  some  artillery,  as  Cortez  did  Mexico  -,  but  he 
only  made  a  conquest  of  barren  deserts. 

In  sailing  up  the  Obj  to  the  junction  of  the 
river  Irtis  with  the  Tobnl,  they  found  a  petty 
settlement,  which  they  converted  into  the  town 

•  Called  also  the  Ob,  This  lar^e  river  issues  from  the 
lake  Altin  in  Calmuck  Tartary,  in  Asia,  from  whence  run- 
ning north  it  forms  the  boundary  between  Europe  and 
Asia,  and  after  traversin;^  a  vast  tract  of  above  two  thoa- 
sand  mileF,  it  falls  into  a  hay  of  the  Frozen  Sea. 

+  In  the  Russian  language  Irtish,  This  river  runs  from 
N.  to  .S.  thron<:h  all  Russia,  and  falling  into  the  former 
**Ter,  forniBpart  of  the  boundery  between  Asia  and  Europe- 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  27 

of  Tobol,*  now  the  capital  of  Siberia,  and  a  con- 
siderable place.  Who  could  imagine  (hat  this 
country  was  for  along  time  tie  residence  of  those 
very  Huns,  who  under  Attila  carried  their  depre- 
dations as  far  as  the  gates  of  Rome,  and  that 
these  Huns  came  from  the  north  of  China?  The 
Usbeck  Tartars  succeeded  the  Huns,  and  the 
Russians  the  Usbecks.  The  possession  of  these 
savage  countries  has  been  disputed  with  as 
much  murderous  fury,  as  that  of  the  most  fruit- 
ful provinces.  Siberia  was  formerly  better 
peopled  than  it  is  at  present,  especially  towards 
the  southern  parts ;  if  we  may  judge  from  the 
rivers  and  sepulchral  monuments. 

All  this  part  of  the  world,  from  the  sixtieth  de- 
gree of  latitude,  or  thereabouts,  as  far  as  those 
mountains  of  perpetual  ice  which  border  the 
north  seas,  is  totally  different  from  the  regions  of 
the  temperate  zone ,  the  earth  produces  neither 
the  same  plants,  nor  the  same  animals,  nor  are 
there  the  same  sort  of  fishes  in  their  lakes  and 
rivers. 

Below  the  country  of  the  Samojedes  lies  that 
of  the  Ostiaks,  along  the  river  Oby.  These  people 
have  no  resemblance  in  any  respect  with  the 
Samojedes,  save  that  like  them  and  all  the  first 
race  of  men,  they  are  hunters,  fishermen,  and 
shepherds  ;  some  of  them  have  no  religion,  not 
being  formed  into  any  society,  and  the  others 
who  live  together  in  herds  or  clans,  have  a  kind 
of  worship,  and  pray  to  the  principal  object  of 
their  wants  ;  they  adore  the  skin  of  a  sheep,  be- 
cause this  creature  is  of  all  others  tlie  most  ser- 
viceable to  them  ;  just  as  the  Egyptian  husband- 
men made  choice  of  an  ox,  as  an  emblem  of  the 
Deity  who  created  that  creature  for  the  use  of 
man. 

*  In  .he  Russian  language  Toboloky. 


28  HISTORY  OF 

The  Ostiaks  have  likewise  other  idol?,  whose 
origin  and  worship  are  as  little  deserving  our  no- 
tice as  their  worshippers.  There  were  some  con- 
verts to  Christianity  made  amongst  them  in  the 
year  1 7  1  'J  ;  hut  these,  like  the  lowest  of  our  pea- 
sants, are  Christians  without  knowing  what  they 
profess.  Several  writers  pretend  that  these 
people  were  natives  of  Great  Permia,  but  as 
Great  Permia  is  in  a  manner  a  desert,  how  comes 
it  that  its  inhabitants  should  settle  themselves 
at  such  a  distance,  and  so  inconveniently  1  This 
is  a  difEculty  not  worth  clearing  up.  Every  na- 
tion which  has  not  cultivated  the  polite  arts,  do- 
serves  to  remain  in  obscurity. 

In  the  country  of  the  Ostiaks  m  particular,  and 
amongst  their  neighbours  the  Buratcs  and  Jaka- 
tians,  they  often  discover  a  kind  of  ivory  under 
ground,  the  nature  of  which  is  as  yet  unknown. 
Some  take  it  to  be  a  sort  of  fossil,  and  others  the 
tooth  of  a  species  of  elephants,  the  breed  of  which 
have  been  destroyed  :  but  where  is  the  country 
that  does  not  afford  some  natural  productions, 
which  at  once  astonish  and  confound  philosophy. 

Several  mountains  in  this  country  abound  with 
the  amianthes  or  asbestos,  a  kind  of  incombus- 
tible flax,  of  which  a  sort  of  cloth  and  paper  is 
sometimes  made. 

To  the  south  of  the  Ostiaks  are  the  Burates,  an- 
other people,  who  have  not  yet  been  made  Chris- 
tians. Eastward  there  are  several  hordes,  whom 
the  Russians  have  not  as  yet  entirely  subdued. 

None  of  these  people  have  the  least  knowledge 
of  the  calendar  :  they  reckon  their  time  by  snows, 
and  not  by  the  apparent  motion  of  the  sun  :  as 
it  snows  regularly,  and  for  a  long  time  every 
winter,  they  say,  '  I  am  so  many  snows  old,' just 
as  we  say,  I  am  so  many  years. 

And  here  I  must  relate  the  accounts  given  by 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  %9 

the  Swedish  officer  Strahlemberg,  who  was  taken 
prisoner  in  the  battle  of  Paltowa,  and  lived  fif- 
teen years  in  Siberia,  and  made  the  entire  toar  of 
that  country.  He  says,  that  there  are  still  some 
remains  of  an  ancient  people,  whose  skin  is 
spotted  or  variegated  with  different  colours,  and 
that  he  himself  had  seen  some  of  them,  and  the 
fact  has  been  confirmed  to  me  by  Russians  bom 
at  Tobolsky.  The  variety  of  the  human  species 
seems  to  be  greatly  diminished,  as  we  find  very 
few  of  these  extraordinary  people,  and  they  have 
probably  been  exterminated  by  some  other  race  : 
for  instance  there  are  very  few  Albinos,  or  White 
Moors  ;  one  of  ihem  was  presented  to  the  aca- 
demy of  sciences  at  Paris,  which  I  saw.  It  is 
the  same  with  respect  to  several  other  species  of 
animals  which  are  rare. 

As  to  the  Borandians,  of  whom  mention  is 
made  so  frequently  in  the  learned  history  of  the 
king's  garden,  my  memoirs  say,  that  this  race  ol 
people  is  entirely  unkno%vn  to  the  Russians. 

All  the  southern  part  of  these  countries  is 
peopled  by  numerous  hordes  of  Tartars.  The 
ancient  Turks  came  from  this  part  of  Tariary  to 
conquer  these  extensive  countries,  of  which  they 
are  at  present  in  possession.  The  Calmucs  and 
IVIonguls  are  the  very  Scythians  who,  under  Ma- 
dies,  made  themselves  masters  of  Upper  Asia, 
and  conquered  Cyaxares,  king  of  the  Medes. 
They  are  the  men,  whom  Gengis  Khan  and  his 
sons  led  afterwards  as  far  as  Germany,  and  was 
termed  the  Mogul  empire  under  Tamerlane. 
These  people  afford  a  lively  instance  of  the  vicis- 
situdes which  have  happened  to  all  nations  j 
some  of  their  hoides,  so  far  from  being  formi- 
dable now,  are  become  vassals  to  Russia. 

Among  these  is  a  nation  of  Calmucs,  dwelling 
between  Siberia  and  the  Caspian  Sea,  where,  in 


30  HISTORY  OF 

tiie  year  1720,  there  was  discovered  a  subter- 
raneous house  of  stone,  with  urns,  lamps,  ear- 
rings, an  equestrian  statue  of  an  oriental  prince, 
with  a  diadem  on  his  head,  two  women  seated 
on  thrones,  and  a  roll  of  manuscripts,  which  were 
sent  by  Peter  the  Great  to  the  academy  of  in- 
scriptions at  Paris,  and  proved  to  be  written  in 
the  Thibet  language:  all  these  are  striking proofS; 
that  the  liberal  arts  formerly  resided  in  this  now 
barbarous  country,  and  are  lasting  evidences  of 
the  truth  of  what  Peter  the  Great  was  wont  seve- 
raJ  times  to  say,  viz.  that  the  arts  had  made  the 
tour  of  the  globe. 

The  last  province  is  Kamtshatka,  the  most 
eastern  part  of  the  continent.  The  inhabitants 
were  absolutely  void  of  all  religion  when  they 
were  first  discovered.  The  north  part  of  this 
country  likewise  affords  fine  furs,  with  which  the 
inhabitants  clothed  themselves  in  winter,  though 
they  went  naked  all  the  summer  season.  The 
first  discoverers  were  surprised  to  find  in  the 
southern  parts  men  with  long  beards,  while  in 
the  northern  parts,  from  the  country  of  the  Samo- 
jedes,  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  river  Amur, 
they  have  no  more  beards  than  the  Americans. 
Thus,  in  the  empire  of  Russia,  there  is  a  greater 
number  rf  different  species,  more  singularities, 
and  a  greater  diversity  of  manners  and  customs, 
tlian  in  any  country  in  the  known  world. 

The  first  discovery  of  this  country  was  made 
by  a  Cossack  ofiicer,  who  went  by  land  from  Si- 
beria to  Kamtshatka,  m  1701,  by  order  of  Peter 
the  Great,  who,  notwithstanding  his  misfortune 
at  Narva,  still  continued  to  extend  his  care  from 
one  extremity  of  the  continent  to  tie  other. 
Afterwards,  in  1725,  some  time  before  death 
surprised  him,  in  the  midst  of  his  great  exploits, 
he  sent  Captain  Bering,  a  Dane,  with  exprew 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  31 

orders  to  find  out,  if  possible,  a  passage  by  the 
sea  of  Kamtshatka,  to  the  ccast  of  America. 
Bering  did  not  succeed  in  liis  first  atteirpt ;  but 
the  empress  Anne  sent  him  out  again  in  1733. 
M.  Spengenberg,  captain  of  a  ship,  his  associate 
in  this  voyage,  set  out  the  first  from  Kamtshatka, 
but  could  not  put  to  sea  till  the  year  1739,  so 
much  time  was  taken  up  in  getting  to  the  port 
•where  they  were  to  embark,  in  buildi  .)g  and  fit- 
ting out  the  ships,  and  providing  the  necessaries. 
Spengenberg  sailed  as  far  as  the  north  part  of 
Japan,  through  a  streight,  formed  by  a  long  chain 
of  islands,  and  returned  without  having  disco- 
vered the  passage. 

In  1741,  Bering  cruised  all  over  this  sea,  in 
company  with  De  Lisle  de  la  Croyere,  the  astro- 
nomer, of  the  same  family  of  L'Isle,  which  has 
produced  such  excellent  geographers  :  another 
captain  likewise  went  upon  the  same  discovery. 
They  both  made  the  coast  of  America,  to  the 
northward  of  California.  Thus  the  north-east 
passage,  so  long  sought  after,  was  at  length  dis- 
covered, but  there  were  no  refreshments  to  be  met 
with  in  those  barren  coasts.  Their  fresh  water 
failed  them,  and  part  of  the  crew  perished  with 
the  scurvy.  1  hey  saw  the  northern  bank  of  Cali- 
fornia for  above  a  hundred  miles,  and  saw  some 
leathern  canoes,  with  just  such  a  sort  of  people 
in  them  as  the  Canadians.  All  their  endeavours 
however  proved  fruitless  :  Bering  ended  his  life 
in  an  island,  to  which  he  gave  his  name.  The 
other  captain,  happening  to  be  closer  in  with  the 
Californiau  coast,  sent  ten  of  his  people  on  shore, 
who  ever  returned.  The  captain,  after  waiting 
for  tuem  in  vain,  found  himself  obliged  to  return 
back  '0  Kamtshatka,  and  De  Lisle  died  as  he 
«'a»  going  on  shore.  Such  are  the  disasters  that 
i»ave  geneially  attended  every  new  attempt  upon 


?9  HISTORY  OF 

the  northern  seas.  But  what  advantages  maj 
yet  arise  from  tliese  powerful  and  dangerous  dis- 
coveries, time  alone  can  prove. 

We  have  now  described  all  the  different  pro- 
vinces that  compose  the  Russian  dominions,  from 
Finland  to  the  sea  of  Japan.  The  largest  parts 
of  this  empire  have  been  all  united  at  different 
times,  as  has  been  the  case  in  all  other  kingdoms 
in  the  world.  The  Scythians,  Huns,  Massagetes, 
Slavians,  Cimbrians,  Getes,  and  Sarmatians,  are 
now  subjects  of  the  czar.  The  Russians,  pro- 
perly so  called,  are  the  ancient  Roxolani  or  Slavi. 

Upon  reflection,  we  shall  find  that  most  states 
were  formed  in  che  same  manner.  The  French 
are  an  assemblage  of  Goths,  of  Danes  called 
Normands,  of  northern  Germans,  called  Burgun- 
dians  ;  of  Franks,  Allraans,  and  some  Romans, 
mixed  with  the  ancient  Celtae.  In  Rome  anrt 
Italy  there  are  several  families  descended  from 
the  people  of  the  Nonh,  but  none  that  we  know 
of  from  the  ancient  Romans.  The  supreme  pon- 
tiff is  frequently  the  offspring  of  a  Lombard,  a 
Goth,  a  Teuton,  or  a  Cimbrian.  The  Spaniards 
are  a  race  of  Arabs,  Carthaginians.  Jews,  Tyrians, 
Visigoths,  and  Vandals,  incorporated  with  the 
ancient  inhabitants  of  the  country.  When  na- 
tions are  thus  intermixed,  it  is  a  long  time  before 
tbey  are  civilized,  or  even  before  their  language 
is  formed.  Some,  indeed,  receive  these  sooner, 
others  later.  Polity  and  the  liberal  arts  are  so 
difficult  to  establish,  and  the  new  raised  structure 
is  so  often  destroyed  by  revolutions,  that  we 
may  wonder  all  nations  are  not  so  barbarous  w 
Tartars. 


PETER  THE  GREAT  35 

CHAP.  II. 

Continuation  of  the  description  of  Russia,  population 
fiiiances,  armies,  customB,  religion  :  state  of  Russia 
before  Peter  the  Great. 

'PHE  more  civilized  a  country  is,  the  better  it 
is  peopled.  Thus  China  and  India  are  more 
populous  than  any  other  empires,  because,  after 
a  multitude  of  revolutions,  which  changed  the 
face  of  sublunary  affairs,  these  two  nations  made 
the  earliest  establishments  in  civil  society  :  the 
antiquity  of  their  government,  which  had  sub- 
sisted upwards  of  four  thousand  years,  supposes, 
as  we  liave  already  observf^i,  many  essays  and 
efforts  in  preceding  agt.s.  The  Russians  came 
very  late  ;  but  the  arts  having  been  introduced 
amongst  theui  in  their  full  perftcdon,  it  has  hap- 
pened, that  they  have  made  more  progress  in 
fifty  years,  than  any  other  nation  had  done  be- 
fore them  in  five  hundred.  The  country  is  far 
from  being  populous,  in  proportion  to  its  extent; 
but.  such  as  it  is,  it  has  as  great  a  number  of  in- 
habitants as  any  other  state  in  Christendom. 
From  the  capitation  lists,  and  the  register  of 
merchants,  artificers,  and  male  peasants,  1  might 
safely  as>er-t,  that  Russia,  at  present,  contains 
at  least  twenty-four  millions  of  male  inhabitants  : 
of  tliese  twenty-four  millions,  the  greatest  part 
are  villains  or  bondmen,  as  in  Poland,  several 
provinces  of  Germany,  and  formerly  throujihout 
all  Europe.  The  estate  of  a  gentleman  in  Russia 
and  Poland  is  computed,  not  i)y  his  increase  in 
money,  but  by  the  number  of  his  slaves. 

The  following  is  a  list,   taken  in   1747,  of  all 
the  males  who  paid  the  capitation  or  poll-tax  : — 

Merchants  or  tradesmen 198000 

Handicrafts   ....  ....        1650w 

B2 


S4  HISTORV  or 

Peasants  incorporated  with  the  mer- 
chants and  handicrafts 1950 

Peasants  called  Odonoskis,  who  contri- 
bute to  maintain  the  militia    .     .     .     430220 

Others  who  do  not  contribute  thereto  .       26080 

Workmen    of   different  trades,   whose 

parents  are  not  known 1000 

Others  who  are  not  incorporated  with 

the  companies  of  tradesmen    .     .     .         4700 

Peasants  immediately  dependent  on  the 

crown,  about 555000 

Persons  employed  in  the  mines  belong- 
ing to  the  crown,  partly  Christians, 
partly  Mahometans  and  Pagans  .     .       64000 

Other  peasants  belonging  to  the  crown, 
who  work  in  the  mines,  and  in  pri- 
vate manufactories 24200 

New  converts  to  the  Greek  church      .       57000 

Tartars  and  Ostiaks  (peasants)  .     .     .     241000 

Mourses,  Tartars,  Mordauts,  and  others, 
whether  Pagans  or  Christians,  em- 
ployed by  the  admiralty     ....         7800 

Tartars   subject  to  contribution,  called 

Tepteris,   Bobilitz,    Sec 28900 

Bondmen  to  several  merchants,  and 
other  privileged  persons,  who  though 
not  landholders,  are  allowed  to  have 
slaves 9100 

Peasants  in  the  lands  set  apart  for  the 

support  of  the  crown 418000 

Peasants  on  the  lands  belonging  to  her 
majesty,  independently  of  the  rights 
of  the  crown 60500 

Peasants  on  the  lands  confiscated  to  the 

crown 13600 

Bondmen  belonging  to  the  assembly  of 
the  clergy,  and  who  defray  other  ex- 
penses         37500 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  35 

Bondmen  belonging  to  gentlemen  .  .  3550000 
Bondmen  belonging  to  bishops  .  .  .  116400 
Bondmen  belonging  to  convents,  whose 

numbers  were  reduced  by  Peter  the 

Great 721500 

Bondmen  belonging  to  cathedral  and 

parish  churches 2S700 

Peasants  employed  as  labourers  in  the 

docks  of  the  admiralty,  or  in  otlier 

public  wc^iks,   about 4000 

Labourers  in  the  mines,  and  in  private 

manufactures 16000 

Peasants  on  the  lands  assigned  to  the 

principal  manufactures 14500 

Labourers  in  the  mines  belonging  to  the 

crown 300 

Bastards  brought  up  by  the  clergy  .     .  40 

Sectaries  called  Raskolniky  ....         iii'iOO 

Total     6646390 


Here  we  have  a  round  number  of  six  millions 
six  hundred  forty-six  thousand  three  hundred 
and  ninety  male  persons,  who  pay  the  poll-tax. 
In  this  number  are  included  boys  and  old  men, 
but  girls  and  women  are  not  reckoned,  nor  boys 
born  between  the  making  of  one  register  of  the 
lands  and  another.  Now,  if  we  only  reckon 
triple  the  number  of  heads  subject  to  be  taxed, 
including  women  and  girls,  we  shall  find  near 
twenty  millions  of  souls. 

To  this  number  we  may  add  the  military  list, 
■which  amounts  to  three  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand men  :  besides,  neither  the  nobili-ty  nor  clergy, 
who  arc  computed  at  two  hundred  thousand,  are 
subject  to  this  capitation. 

Foreigners,  of  whatever  country  or  profession, 
are  likewise  exempt :  as  also  the  inhaLiiant.s  uf 


56  IIISTOUV  OF 

the  conquered  countries,  namely,  Livon;a,  Es- 
thonia,  Ingria,  Carelia,  and  a  part  of  Finland, 
the  Ukraine,  and  the  Don  Cossacks,  the  Cal- 
mucks,  and  other  Tartars,  Samojedes.  the  Lap- 
landers, the  Ostiaks,  and  all  the  idolatrous  people 
of  Siberia,  a  country  of  greater  extent  than  China. 

By  the  same  calculation,  it  is  impossible  that 
the  total  of  the  inhabitants  of  Russia  should 
amount  to  less  than  twenty-four  millions.  At 
this  rate,  there  are  eight  persons  to  every  square 
mile.  The  English  ambassador,  whom  I  have 
mentioned  before,  allows  only  five  ;  but  he  cer- 
tainly was  not  furnished  with  such  faithful  me- 
moirs as  those  with  which  1  have  been  favoured. 

Russia  therefore  is  exactly  five  times  less  po- 
pulous than  Spain,  but  contains  near  four  times 
the  number  of  inhabitants  :  it  is  almost  as  popu- 
lous as  France  or  Germany  ;  but,  if  we  consider 
its  vast  extent,  the  number  of  souls  is  thirty  times 
less. 

There  is  one  important  remark  to  be  made  in 
regard  to  this  enumeration,  namely,  that  out  o! 
six  million  six  hundred  and  forty  thousand  peo- 
ple liable  to  the  poll-tax,  there  are  abuut  nine 
hundred  thousand  that  belong  to  the  Russian 
clergy,  without  reckoning  either  the  ecclesiastics 
of  the  conquered  countries,  of  the  Ukraine,  or  of 
Siberia. 

Therefore,  out  of  seven  persons  liable  to  the 
poll-tax,  the  clergy  have  one  ;  but,  nevertheless, 
they  are  far  from  possessing  the  seventh  part  of 
the  whole  revenues  of  the  state,  as  is  the  case  in 
many  other  kingdoms,  where  they  have  at  least 
H  seventh  of  all  estates;  for  their  peztsants  pay 
:j  capitation  to  the  sovereign  ;  and  the  other 
taxes  of  the  crown  of  Russia,  in  which  the  clei^ 
^.ive  no  share,  are  very  considerable. 

T\;\»  valuation   is  very  different  from  that  of 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  3*^ 

ftll  other  writers,  on  the  aflFairs  of  Russia  ;  so  that 
forpign  ministers,  who  have  transmitted  memoirs 
of  this  state  to  their  courts,  have  been  great!}'- 
mistaken.  The  archives  of  the  empire  are  the 
only  things  to  be  consulted. 

It  is  very  probable,  that  Russia  has  been  bet- 
ter peopled  than  it  is  at  present ;  before  the 
sraall-pox,  that  came  from  the  extremities  of 
Arabia,  and  the  great  pox  that  came  from  Ame- 
rica, had  spread  over  these  climates,  where  they 
have  now  taken  root.  The  world  owes  these 
two  dreadful  scourges,  which  have  depopulatec 
it  more  than  all  its  wars,  the  one  to  Mahomet, 
and  the  other  to  Christopher  Columbus.  The 
plague,  which  is  a  native  of  Africa,  seldom  ap- 
proached the  countries  of  the  North  :  besides, 
the  people  of  those  countries,  from  Sarmatia  to 
the  Tartars,  who  dwell  beyond  the  great  wall, 
having  overspread  the  world  by  their  irruptions, 
this  ancient  nursery  of  the  human  species  must 
have  been  surprisingly  diminished. 

In  this  vast  extent  of  country,  tnere  are  said 
to  be  about  seventy-four  ♦.housand  monks,  and 
five  thousand  nuns,  notwithstanding  the  care 
taken  by  Peter  the  Great  to  reduce  their  number; 
a  care  worthy  the  legislator  of  an  empire  where 
the  human  race  is  so  remarkably  deficient.  These 
thirteen  thousand  persons,  thus  immured  and 
lost  to  the  state,  have,  as  the  reader  may  have 
observed,  seventy-two  thousand  bondmen  to  till 
their  lajids,  which  is  evidently  too  great  a  num- 
ber:  there  cannot  be  a  stronger  proof  how  diffi- 
cult it  is  to  eradicate  abu.^es  of  a  long  standing. 

I  find,  by  a  list  of  the  revenues  of  the  empire 
in  17o5,  that  reckoning  the  tribute  paid  by  the 
Tartars,  with  all  taxes  and  duties  in  money,  the 
8um  total  amounted  to  thirteen  millions  of  rubles, 
which  jnakes  sixty  five  millions  of  French  livreb. 


38  HISTORY  OF 

exclusive  of  tributes  in  kind.  This  moderate  sum 
was  at  that  time  sufficient  to  maintain  three 
hundred  and  thirty-nine  thousand  five  hundred, 
as  well  sea  as  land  forces  :  but  both  the  revenues 
and  troops  are  augmented  since  that  time. 

The  customs,  diets,  and  manners  of  the  Rus- 
sians, ever  bore  a  greater  affinity  to  those  of  Asia 
than  to  those  of  Europe:  such  was  the  old  cus- 
tom of  receiving  tributes  in  kind,  of  defraying  the 
expenses  of  ambassadors  on  their  journeys,  and 
during  their  residence  in  the  country,  and  of 
never  appearing  at  church,  or  in  the  royal  pre- 
sence with  a  sword  ;  an  oriental  custom,  directly 
the  reverse  of  that  ridiculous  and  barbarous  one 
amongst  us,  of  addressing  ourselves  to  Gcd,  to 
our  king,  to  our  friends,  and  to  our  women,  with 
an  offensive  weapon,  which  hangs  down  to  the 
bottom  of  the  leg.  The  long  robe  worn  on  public 
days,  had  a  more  noble  air  than  the  short  habits 
of  the  western  nations  of  Europe.  A  vest  lined 
and  turned  up  with  fur,  with  a  long  scimar, 
adorned  with  jewels  for  festival  days  ;  and  those 
high  turbans,  which  add  to  the  stature,  were 
much  more  striking  to  the  eye  than  our  perukes 
and  close  coats,  and  more  suitable  to  cold  cli- 
mates ;  but  this  ancient  dress  of  all  nations  seems 
to  be  not  so  well  contrived  for  war,  nor  so  con- 
venient for  working  people.  .Most  of  their  other 
customs  were  rustic  ;  but  we  must  not  imagine, 
that  their  manners  were  so  barbarous  as  some 
writers  would  have  us  believe.  Albert  Krants 
relates  a  story  of  an  Italian  ambassador,  whom 
the  czar  ordered  to  have  his  hat  nailed  to  his 
head,  for  not  pulling  it  cff  while  he  was  making 
his  speech  to  him.  Others  attribute  this  adven- 
ture to  a  Tartar,  and  others  again  to  a  French 
ambassador. 

Olearius   pretends,    that    he    czar   Michael 


PETEK  THE  GREAT.  39 

Theodorowitz,  banished  the  marquis  of  E-xideuil, 
ambassador  from  Henry  IV.  of  France,  into 
Siberia  ;  but  it  is  certain,  that  this  monarch  sent 
no  ambassador  to  INIoscow,  and  that  there  never 
was  a  marquis  of  Exideiiil  in  France.  In  the 
same  manner  do  travellers  speak  about  the 
country  of  Borandia,  and  of  the  trade  they  have 
carried  on  with  the  people  of  Nova  Zembla, 
which  is  scarcely  inhabited  at  all,  and  the  long 
conversations  they  have  had  with  some  of  the 
Samojedes,  as  if  they  understood  their  language. 
Were  the  enormous  compilations  of  voyages  to 
be  cleared  of  every  thing  that  is  not  true  nor  use- 
ful in  them,  both  the  works  and  the  public  would 
be  gainers  by  it. 

The  Russiaii  government  resembled  that  of  the 
Turks,  in  respect  to  the  standing  forces,  or  guards, 
called  Strelitzes,  who,  like  the  janissaries,  some- 
times disposed  of  the  crown,  and  frequently  dis- 
turbed the  state  as  much  as  they  defended  it. 
Their  number  was  about  forty  thousand.  Those 
who  were  dispersed  in  the  provinces,  subsisted 
by  rapine  and  plunder ;  those  in  Moscow  lived 
like  citizens,  followed  trades,  did  no  duty,  and 
carried  their  insolence  to  the  greatest  excess  :  in 
short,  there  was  no  other  way  to  preserve  peace 
and  good  order  in  the  kingdom,  but  by  breaking 
them  ;  a  very  necessary,  and  at  the  same  time  a 
very  dangerous  step. 

The  public  revenues  did  not  exceed  five  mil- 
lions of  rubles,  or  about  twenty-five  millions  of 
French  livres  This  was  suflBcient  when  czar 
Peter  came  to  the  crown  to  maintain  the  ancient 
mediocrity,  but  was  not  a  third  part  of  what  was 
necessary  to  go  certain  lengths,  and  to  render 
himself  and  people  considerable  in  Europe  :  but 
at  the  same  time  many  of  tlieir  taxes  were  paid 
ia  kind,  according  to  the  Turkish  custom,  which 


40  HISTORY  OF 

is  less  burthensome  to  the  people  than  that  of 
paying  their  tributes  in  money. 

OF  TFIE  TITLE  OF  CZAR. 

As  to  the  title  of  czar,  it  may  possibly  come 
from  the  tzars  or  tchars  of  the  kingdom  of  Casau. 
When  John,  or  Ivan  Basilides,  completed  tbe 
conquest  of  this  kingdom  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
which  had  been  begun  by  his  grandfather,  who 
afterwards  lost  it,  he  assumed  this  title,  which 
his  successors  have  retained  ever  since.  Before 
John  Basilides,  the  sovereign  of  Russia,  took  the 
title  of  Welike  Knez,  i.  e.  great  prince,  great 
lord,  great  chief,  which  the  Christian  nations  af- 
terwards rendered  bv  that  of  great  duke.  Czar 
Michael  Theodorowitz,  when  he  received  the 
Holstein  embassy,  took  to  himself  the  follo\\'ing 
titles  :  '  Great  knez,  and  great  lord,  conservator 
of  all  the  Russias,  prince  of  Wolodomer,  Moscow, 
Xovogorod,  &c.  tzar  of  Casan,  tzar  of  Astracan, 
and  Lzar  of  Siberia.'  Tzar  was,  therefore,  a  title 
belonging  to  these  eastern  princes  ;  and,  there- 
fore, it  is  more  probable  to  have  been  derived  from 
the  tshas  of  Persia,  than  from  the  Roman  Caesars, 
whom  the  Siberian  tzars,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Oby,  can  hardly  be  supposed  to  have  ever  heard. 

No  title,  however  pompous,  is  of  any  conse- 
quence, if  those  who  bear  it  are  not  great  and 
powerful  themselves.  The  word  emperor,  which 
originally  signified  no  more  than  general  of  the 
army,  became  the  title  of  the  sovereign  of  the 
Roman  republic  :  it  is  now  given  to  the  supreme 
governor  of  all  the  Russias,  more  justly  than  to 
any  other  potentate,  if  we  consider  the  power  and 
extent  of  his  dominions. 

RELIGION. 

The  established  religion  of  this  country  has, 
?ver  since  the  eleventh  centurv,  been  that  of  the 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  41 

Greek  church,  so  called  in  opp.osition  to  the  Latin  : 
though  there  were  always  a  greater  number  of 
Mahometan  and  Pagan  proTinces,  than  of  those 
inhabited  by  Christians.  Siberia,  as  far  as  China, 
was  in  a  state  of  idolatry  ;  and,  in  some  of  the 
provinces,  they  were  utter  strangers  to  all  kind 
of  religion. 

Perry,  the  engineer,  and  baron  Strahlemberg, 
who  both  -esided  so  many  years  in  Russia,  tell 
us,  that  they  found  more  sincerity  and  probity 
among  the  Pagans  than  the  other  inhabitants  ; 
not  that  paganism  made  them  more  virtuous,  but 
their  manner  of  living,  which,  was  that  of  the  pri- 
mitive ages,  as  they  are  called,  freed  them  from 
all  the  tumultuous  passions  ;  and,  in  consequence, 
they  were  known  for  their  integrity. 

Christianity  did  not  get  footing  in  Russia  and 
the  other  countries  of  the  North,  till  very  late. 
It  is  said,  that  a  princess,  named  Olha,  first  in- 
troduced it,  about  the  end  of  the  tenth  century, 
as  Clotilda,  niece  to  an  Arian  prince,  did  among 
the  Franks  ,  the  wife  of  Miceslaus,  duke  of  Po- 
land, among  the  Poles  ;  and  the  sister  of  the  em- 
peror Henry  II.  among  the  Hungarians.  Women 
are  naturally  easily  persuaded  by  the  ministers 
of  religion,  and  as  easily  persuade  the  other  part 
of  mamkind. 

It  is  further  added,  that  the  princess  Olha 
caused  herself  to  be  baptized  at  Constantinople, 
by  the  name  of  Helena  ;  and  that,  as  soon  as  she 
embraced  Christianity,  the  emperor  John  Zimis- 
ces  fell  in  love  with  her.  It  is  most  likely  that 
she  was  a  widow  ;  however,  she  refused  the  em- 
peror. The  example  of  the  princess  Olha,  or 
Olga,  as  she  is  called,  did  not  at  first  make  many 
proselytes.    Her  son,*  who  reigned  a  long  time, 

•  liiG  name  was  SowattoH-slaw. 


42  HISTORY  OF 

was  not  of  the  same  way  of  thinking  ashis  mother , 
but  her  grandson,  Wolodomer.  who  was  born  of 
a  concubine,  having  murdered  his  brother  and 
mounted  the  throne,  sued  for  the  alliance  of  Ba- 
siles,  emperor  of  Constantinople,  but  could  obtain 
it  only  on  condition  of  receiving  baptism  :  and 
this  event,  which  happened  in  the  year  987,  is 
the  epocha  when  the  Greek  church  was  first  es- 
tablished in  Russia.  Photius.  the  patriarch,  so 
famous  for  his  immense  erudition,  his  disputes 
with  the  church  of  R.ome,  and  for  his  misfortunes, 
sent  a  person  to  baptize  Wolodomer,  in  order  to 
add  this  part  of  the  world  to  the  patriarchal  see.* 
Wolodimer,  or  Wolodomer,  therefore  com- 
pleted the  work  which  his  grandmother  had  be- 
gun. A  Greek  was  made  the  first  metropolitan* 
or  patriarch  of  Russia  ;  and  from  this  time  the 
Russians  adopted  an  alphabet,  taken  partly  from 
the  Greek.  This  would  have  been  of  advantage 
to  them,  had  they  not  still  retained  the  princi- 
ples of  their  own  language,  which  is  the  Sclavo- 
nian  in  every  thing,  but  a  few  terms  relating  to 
their  liturgy  and  church  government.  One  of  the 
Greek  patriarchs,  named  .'eremiah,  having  a  suit 
depending  before  the  divan,  came  to  Moscow  to 
solicit  it  ;  where,  after  some  time,  he  resigned 
his  authority  over  the  Russian  churches,  and  con- 
secrated patriarch,  the  archbishop  of  Novogorod, 
named  Job.  This  was  iu  the  year  1.588,  from 
which  time  the  Russian  church  became  as  inde- 
pendent as  its  empire.  The  patriarch  of  Russia 
has  ever  since  been  consecrated  by  the  Russian 
bishops,  and  not  by  the  patriarch  of  Constanti- 
no])le.      He  ranked  in  the  Greek  church  next  Iff 

•  Tbis  anecdote  is  taken  from  a  private  ^IS.  entitled, 
'  The  Ecclesiastical  Government  of  Russia."  which  is  lika^ 
wiK  deposited  in  the  public  library. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  43 

the  patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  but  he  was  in  fact  the 
only  free  and  powerful  patriarch  ;  and,  conse- 
quently, the  only  real  one.  Those  of  Jerusalem, 
Constantinople,  Antioch,  Alexandria,  are  merce- 
nary chiefs  of  a  church,  enslaved  by  the  Turks  r 
and  even  the  patriarchs  of  Jerusalem  and  Antioch 
are  no  longer  considered  as  such,  having  no  more 
credit  or  influence  in  Turkey,  than  the  rabbins  of 
the  Jewish  synagogues  settled  there. 

It  was  from  a  person  who  was  a  patriarch  of 
all  the  Kussias,  that  Peter  the  Great  was  de- 
scended in  a  right  line.  These  new  prelates  soon 
wanted  to  share  the  sovereign  authority  with  the 
czars.  i'hey  thought  it  not  enough  that  their 
prince  walked  bare-headed,  once  a  year  before 
the  patriarch,  leading  his  horse  by  the  bridle. 
These  external  marks  of  respect  only  served  to 
increase  their  thirst  for  rule  ;  a  passion  which 
proved  the  source  of  great  troubles  in  Russia,  as 
well  as  in  other  countries. 

Nicon,  a  person  whom  the  monks  look  upon 
as  a  saint,  and  who  was  patriarch  in  the  reign 
('(  Alexis,  the  father  of  Peter  the  Great,  wanted 
to  raise  his  dignity  above  that  of  the  throne  ;  for 
he  not  only  assumed  the  privilege  of  sitting  by 
tlie  side  of  the  czar  in  the  senate,  but  pretended 
that  neither  war  nor  peace  could  be  made  with- 
out his  consent.  His  authority  was  t^o  great,  that, 
being  supported  by  his  immense  wealth,  and  by 
his  intrigues  with  the  clergy  and  the  people,  he 
kept  his  master  in  a  kind  of  subjection.  He  had 
the  boldness  to  excommunicate  some  senators 
who  opposed  his  excessive  insolence;  till  at  last, 
Alexis,  finding  himself  not  powerful  enough  to 
depose  Lim  by  his  own  authority,  was  obliged  to 
convene  a  synod  of  all  the  bishops.  There  the 
patriarch  was  accused  of  having  received  money 
from  the  Poles  j  and  being  convicted,  was  deposed, 


44  HISTORY  OF 

and  confined  for  the  remainder  of  his  days  in  a 
monaster^',  after  which  the  prelates  chose  another 
patriarch  in  his  stead. 

From  the  first  infancy  of  Christianity  in  Russia, 
there  have  been  several  sects  there,  as  well  as  in 
other  countries  ;  for  sects  are  as  frequently  the 
fruits  of  ignorance,  as  of  pretended  knowledge  : 
but  Russia  is  the  only  Christian  state  of  any  con- 
siderable ext-ent,  in  which  religion  has  not  excit- 
ed civil  wars,  though  it  has  felt  some  occasional 
tiunults. 

The  Raskolnikys,  who  consist  at  present  of 
about  two  thousand  males,  and  who  are  men- 
tioned in  the  foregoing  list,*  are  the  most  ancient 
sect  of  any  in  this  country.  It  was  establishe^d 
in  the  twelfth  century,  bv  some  enthusiasts,  who 
had  a  superficial  knowledge  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment- they  made  use  then,  and  still  do,  of  the 
old  pretence  of  all  sectaries,  that  of  following 
the  letter,  and  accused  all  other  Christians  of 
remissness.  They  would  not  permit  a  priest, 
who  had  drank  brandy,  to  confer  baptism  ;  they 
affirmed,  in  the  words  of  our  Saviour,  that  there 
is  neither  a  first  nor  a  last,  among  the  faithful ; 
and  held,  that  one  of  the  elect  might  kill  himself 
for  the  love  of  his  Saviour.  According  to  them 
it  is  a  great  sin  to  repeat  the  hallelujah  three 
times  ;  and,  therefore,  repeat  it  only  twice.  The 
benediction  is  to  be  given  only  with  three  fingers. 
In  other  respects,  no  society  can  be  more  regu- 
lar, or  strict  in  its  morals.  They  live  like  the 
quakers,  and,  like  them,  do  not  admit  any  other 
Christians  into  their  assemblies,  which  is  the 
reason  that  these  have  accused  them  of  all  the 
abominations  of  which  the  heathens  accused  the 
primitive  Galileans:   these  latter,  the  gnostics, 

•  See  page  .^5. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  46 

and  with  which  the  Roman  catholics  have  charg- 
ed the  protestants.  They  have  been  frequently 
accused  of  cutting  the  throat  of  an  infant,  and 
drinking  its  blood  ;  and  of  mixing  together  in 
their  private  ceremonies,  without  distinction  of 
kindred,  age,  or  even  of  sex.  They  have  been 
persecuted  at  tiroes,  and  then  they  shut  them- 
selves up  in  their  hamlets,  set  fire  to  their  houses, 
and  thrown  themselves  into  the  tiames.  Peter 
took  the  only  method  of  reclaiming  them,  which 
was  by  letting  them  live  in  peace. 

But  to  conclude,  in  all  this  vastempiie,  there 
are  but  twenty  eight  e})iscopal  sees ;  and  in 
Peter's  time  there  were  but  twenty -two.  This 
small  number  was,  })erhaps,  one  of  the  causes  to 
which  the  Russian  church  owes  its  tranquillity. 
So  very  circumscribed  was  the  knowledge  of  the 
clergy,  that  czar  Theodore,  brother  to  Peter  the 
Great,  was  the  first  who  introduced  the  custom 
of  singing  Psalms  in  churches. 

Theodore  and  Peter,  espev-laUy  the  latter,  ad- 
mitted indifFerently,  into  thtir  councils  and  their 
armies,  those  of  the  Greek,  the  Latin,  the  Lu- 
theran, and  the  Calvinift  communion,  leaving 
every  one  at  liberty  to  serve  God  after  his  own 
conscience,  provided  he  did  his  duty  to  the  state. 
At  that  time  there  was  not  one  Latin  church  in 
this  great  empire  of  two  thousand  leagues,  till 
Peter  established  some  new  manufactures  at  As- 
tracan,when  there  were  about  sixty  Roman  catho  ■ 
lie  families,  under  the  direction  of  the  ca|)uchins  ; 
but  the  Jesuits  endeavouring  to  establish  them- 
selves in  his  dominions,  he  drove  them  out  by 
an  edict,  published  in  the  month  of  April,  17  18. 
He  tolerated  the  capuchins  as  an  insignificant  set 
of  monks,  but  considered  the  Jesuits  as  dangerous 
politicians. 

The  Greek  church  has  at  once  the  honour  and 


4o  HISTORY  OF 

Batisfaction  o  see  its  communion  extended 
throughout  c.n  empire  of  two  thousand  leagues 
in  length,  while  that  of  Rome  is  not  in  possession 
of  half  that  tract  in  Europe.  Those  of  the  Greek 
communion  have,  at  all  times,  been  particularly 
attentive  to  maintain  an  equality  between  theirs 
and  the  Latin  church  ;  and  always  upon  their 
guard  against  the  zeal  of  the  see  of  Rome,  which 
they  look  upon  as  ambition ;  because,  in  fact, 
that  church,  whose  power  is  very  much  circum- 
scribed in  our  hemisphere,  and  yet  assumes  the 
title  of  universal,  has  always  endeavoured  to  act 
up  to  that  title. 

The  Jews  never  made  any  settlements  in 
Russia,  as  they  have  done  iu  most  of  the  other 
states  of  Europe,  from  Constantinople  to  Rome. 
The  Russians  have  carried  on  their  trade  by 
themselves,  or  by  the  help  of  the  nations  settled 
amongst  them.  Theirs  is  the  only  country  of  the 
Greek  communion,  where  synagogues  are  not 
seen  by  the  side  of  Christian  temples. 

Coneluaion  of  the  State  of 
RUSSIA  before  PETER  the  GREAT. 

Russia  is  indebted  solely  to  czar  Peter  for  its 
great  influence  in  the  affairs  of  Europe  :  being 
of  no  consideration  in  any  other  reign,  since  it 
embraced  Christianity.  Before  '.his  period,  the 
Russians  made  the  same  figure  on  the  Black  Sea, 
that  the  Normans  did  afterwards  on  the  coasts  of 
the  ocean.  In  the  reign  of  the  emperor  Hera- 
clius,  they  fitted  out  an  armament  of  forty  thou- 
sand small  barks;  appeared  before  Constanti- 
nople, which  thev  besieged,  and  imposed  a 
tribute  on  the  Greek  emperors;  but  the  grand 
knez  Woiodimar,  being  wholly  taken  up  uath 
the  care  of  establishing  Chrifltianity  in  his  do- 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  47 

in'nions,  and  wearied  out  with  intestine  broils 
in  his  own  family,  weakened  his  dominions  by 
dividing  them  between  his  children.  They  al- 
most all  fell  a  prey  to  the  Tartars,  who  held 
Russia  in  subjection  near  two  hundred  years. 
At  lenotl  Join  Basilides  freed  it  from  slavery, 
and  enlar>jed  its  boundaries:  bat,  after  his  time, 
it  was  ruined  again  by  civil  wars. 

Before  the  time  of  Peter  the  Great,  Russia  was 
neither  so  powerful,  so  well  cultivated,  so  popu- 
lous, nor  so  rich  as  at  present.  It  had  no  posses- 
sions in  Finland,  nor  in  Livonia  ;  and  this  latter 
alone  had  long  been  worth  more  than  all  Siberia. 
The  Cossacks  were  still  unsubjected,  nor  were 
the  people  of  Astracan  reduced  to  obedience  •, 
what  little  trade  was  carried  on,  was  rather  to 
their  disadvantage.  The  White  Sea,  the  Baltic, 
the  Pontus  Euxinus,  the  sea  of  Azoph,  and  the 
Caspian  Sea,  were  entirely  useless  to  a  nation 
that  had  not  a  single  ship,  nor  even  a  term  in 
their  language  to  express  a  fleet.  If  nothing 
more  had  been  wanting  but  to  be  superior  to  the 
Tartars,  and  the  other  nations  of  the  north,  as 
far  as  China,  the  Russians  undoubtedly  had  that 
advantage,  but  they  were  to  be  brought  upon  an 
equality  with  civilized  nations,  and  to  be  in  a 
condition,  one  day,  of  even  surpassing  several  of 
them.  Such  an  undertaking  apj)eared  altogether 
impracticable,  inasmuch  as  they  had  not  a  single 
ship  at  sea,  and  were  absolutely  ignorant  of  mi- 
litary dicipline  by  land :  nay,  the  most  common 
manufactures  were  hardJy  encouraged,  and  agri- 
culture itself,  that  primnm  mobile  of  trade,  was 
neglected.  This  requires  the  utmost  attention 
and  encouragement  on  the  part  of  a  govornment; 
and  it  is  to  this  that  the  English  are  indebted,  for 
finding  in  their  corn  a  treasure  far  superior  to 
their  woollen  manufacture. 


43  HISTORY  OF 

This  gross  neglect  of  the  necessary  arts,  suffi* 
cieRtly  shews  that  the  people  of  Russia  had  no 
idea  of  the  polite  arts,  which  become  necessar}', 
in  their  tarn,  when  we  have  cdtivated  the  others. 
Thej  might  indeed,  have  sent  some  of  the  na- 
tives to  gain  instruction  among  foreigners,  but 
the  difference  of  languages,  manners,  and  reli- 
gion, opposed  it.  Besides,  there  was  a  iaw  of 
state  and  religion,  equally  sacred  and  pernicious, 
which  prohibited  any  Russian  from  going  out  of 
his  country,  and  thus  seemed  to  devote  this  peo- 
ple to  eternal  ignorance.  They  were  in  posssr.- 
sion  of  the  most  extensive  dominions  in  the  uni- 
verse, and  yet  every  thing  was  wanted  amongst 
them.  At  length  Peter  was  bom,  and  Russia 
became  a  civilized  state. 

Happily,  of  all  the  great  lawgivers  who  bav3 
lived  in  the  world,  Peter  is  the  only  one  whose  his- 
tory is  well  known.  Those  of  Theseus  and  Romu- 
lus, who  did  far  less  than  him,  and  of  the  founders 
of  all  well-governed  states,  are  blended  with  the 
most  absurd  fictions  :  whereas  here,  we  have  tba 
advantage  of  written  truths,  which  would  pass 
for  nctious,  were  they  not  so  well  attested. 


CHAP.  III. 


The  ancestors  of  Peter  the  Great. 
'T'HE  family  of  Peter  the  Great  have  been  in 
possession  of  the  throne  ever  since  the  year 
1613.  Before  that  time,  Russia  had  undergone 
revolutions,  which  h-ad  retarded  the  reform.ation 
of  her  police,  and  the  introduction  of  the  liberal 
arts.  This  has  been  the  fate  of  all  human  socie- 
ties. No  kingdom  ever  experienced  more  crueJ 
troubles.     In  the  year  1.597,  -the  tyranf.  Boris 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  4i 

Godonow  assassinated  Demetrius  (or  Demetri, 
as  he  was  called),  the  lawful  heir,  and  usurped 
the  empire.  A  young  monk  took  the  name  of 
Demetrius,  pretending  to  be  that  prince  who  had 
escaped  from  his  murderers  ;  and  with  the  assis- 
tance of  the  Poles,  and  a  considerable  party 
(which  every  tyrant  has  against  him),  he  drove 
out  the  usurper,  and  seized  the  crown  himself. 
The  imposture  was  discovered  as  soon  as  he 
came  to  the  sovereignty,  because  the  people  were 
not  pleased  with  him  ;  and  he  was  murdered. 
Three  other  false  Demetrius's  started  up,  one 
after  another.  Such  a  succession  of  impostors, 
supposes  a  country  in  the  utmost  distraction. 
The  less  men  are  civilized,  the  more  easily  they 
are  imposed  on.  It  may  readily  be  conceived, 
how  much  these  frauds  augmented  the  public 
confusion  and  misfortunes.  The  Poles,  who  had 
begun  the  revolutions,  by  setting  up  the  first  false 
Demetrius,  were  on  the  point  of  being  masters 
of  Russia.  The  Swedes  shared  in  the  spoils  on 
the  coast  of  Finland,  and  laid  claim  to  the  crown. 
The  state  seemed  on  the  verge  of  utter  destruc- 
tion. 

In  the  midst  of  these  calamities,  an  assembly, 
composed  of  the  principal  boyards,  chose  for 
their  sovereign  a  yoimg  man  of  fifteen  years  of 
age  :  this  happened  in  1613,  and  did  not  seem  a 
very  likely  method  of  putting  an  end  to  these 
troubles.  This  young  man  w;is  Michael  Roma- 
now,*  grandfather  to  czar  Peer,  and  son  to  the 
archbishop  of  Ilotow,  surnamed  PliilaTcles,  and 
of  a  nun,  and  related  by  the  mother's  bide  to  the 
ancient  czars. 

•  Tbu8  the  Russians  call  this  roung  man  ;  but  in  all 
French  authors  we  find  Romano,  tluit  lanj^uai^e  having  u& 
Burh  letter  ae  the  W  ;  others  again  cull  hira  Komatioff. 

c 


50  HISTORY  OF 

It  must  be  observed,  that  this  archbisbop  was 
a  powerful  nobleman,  whom  the  tyrant  Boris  had 
obliged  to  become  priest.  His  wife,  Scheremetow, 
was  likewise  compelled  to  take  the  veil  ;  this  was 
the  ancient  custom  of  the  western  tyrants  of  the 
Latin  church,  as  that  of  putting  out  the  eyes  was 
with  the  Greek  Christians.  The  tyrant  Deme- 
trius made  Philaretes  archbishop  of  Rostow,  and 
sent  him  ambassador  to  Poland,  where  he  was 
detained  prisoner  by  the  Poles,  who  were  then 
at  war  with  the  Russians  ;  so  little  was  the  law 
of  nations  known  to  the  different  people  of  these 
times.  During  his  father's  confinement,  young 
Romanow  was  elected  czar.  The  archbishop  was 
exchanged  against  some  Polish  prisoners  ;  and, 
at  his  return,  his  son  created  him  patriarch,  and 
the  old  man  was  in  fact  king,  under  his  son's  name. 

If  such  a  government  appears  extraordinary  to 
strangers,  the  marriages  of  czar  Michael  Roma- 
now, will  seem  stil4  more  so.  The  Russian 
princes  had  never  intermarried  with  foreign 
states  since  the  year  1490,  or  after  they  became 
masters  of  Casan  and  Astracan  ;  they  seem  to 
have  followed  the  .Vsiatic  customs  in  almost  every 
thing,  and  especially  in  that  of  marrying  only 
among  their  own  subjects. 

This  conformity  to  the  ancient  customs  of  Asia, 
was  still  more  conspicuous  at  the  ceremonies 
observed  at  the  marriage  of  a  czar.  A  num.ber 
of  the  most  beautiful  women  in  the  provinces 
were  sent  for  to  court,  where  they  were  received 
by  the  grand  gouvemante  of  the  court,  who  pro- 
vided apartments  for  them  in  her  own  house, 
where  they  all  eat  together.  The  czar  paid  them 
visits,  sometimes  incognito,  and  sometimes  in 
his  real  character.  The  wedding-day  was  fixed, 
without  its  being  declared  on  whom  the  choice 
had  fallen.     At  the  appointed  time,  the  happy 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  51 

she  was  presented  with  a  rich  wedding-suit,  and 
other  dresses  were  given  to  the  rest  of  the  fair 
candidates,  wlio  then  returned  home.  There 
have  been  four  instances  of  these  marriages. 

In  this  manner  was  Michael  Romanow  es- 
poused to  Eudocia,  the  daughter  of  a  poor  gen- 
tleman, named  Streschneu.  He  was  employed 
in  ploughing  his  grounds  with  his  servants,  when 
the  lords  of  the  bed-chamber  came  to  him  with 
presents  from  the  czar,  and  to  acquaint  him  that 
his  daughter  was  placed  on  the  throne.  The  name 
of  the  princess  is  still  held  in  the  highest  venera- 
tion by  the  Russians.  This  custom  is  greatly 
different  from  ours,  but  not  the  less  respectable 
on  that  account. 

It  is  necessary  to  observr-,  that  before  Roma- 
now was  elected  czar,  a  strong  party  had  made 
choice  of  prince  Ladislaus,  son  to  Sigismund  111. 
king  of  Poland.  At  the  same  time,  the  pro- 
vinces bordering  on  Sweden  had  offered  the 
crown  to  a  brother  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  :  so 
that  Russia  was  in  the  same  situation  then  in 
which  we  have  so  frequently  seen  Poland,  where 
the  right  of  electing  a  king  has  been  the  source 
of  civil  wars.  But  the  Russians  did  not  follow 
the  example  of  the  Poles,  who  entered  into  a 
compact  with  the  prince  whom  they  elected ; 
notwithstanding  they  had  smarted  from  the  op- 
pression of  tyrants,  yet  they  voluntarily  sub- 
mitted to  a  young  man,  without  making  any  con- 
ditions with  him. 

Russia  never  was  an  elective  kingdom ;  but 
the  male  issue  of  the  ancient  sovereigns  failing, 
and  six  czars,  or  pretenders,  having  perished 
miserably  in  the  late  troubles,  there  was,  a.s  we 
have  observed,  a  necessity  for  electing  a  mo- 
narch ;  and  this  election  occasioned  fresh  wars 
uith  Poland  and  Sweden,  who  maintained,  with 


52  HISTORY  OF 

force  of  arms,  their  pretended  rights  tD  the 
crown  of  Russia.  The  right  of  governing  a  na- 
tion against  its  own  will,  can  never  be  long  sup- 
ported. The  Poles,  on  their  side,  after  having 
advanced  as  far  as  jMoscow,  and  exercised  all 
the  ravages  in  which  the  military  expeditions  of 
those  times  chiefly  consisted,  concluded  a  truce 
for  fourteen  rears.  Bv  this  truce,  Poland  re- 
mained in  possession  of  the  duchy  of  Smolensko, 
in  which  the  Boristhene.s  has  its  source.  The 
Swedes  also  made  peace,  in  virtue  of  which  they 
remained  in  possession  of  Ingria,  and  deprived 
the  Russians  of  all  communication  with  the  Baltic 
Sea,  so  that  this  empire  was  separated  more  than 
ever  from  the  rest  of  Europe. 

Michael  Romanow,  after  this  peace,  reigned 
quietly,  without  making  any  alteration  in  the 
state,  either  to  the  improvement  or  corruption 
of  the  administration.  After  his  death,  which 
happened  in  1645,  his  son,  Alexis  Michaelowitz 
(or  son  of  Michael),  ascended  the  throne  by 
hereditary  right.  It  may  be  observed,  that  the 
czars  were  crowned  by  the  patriarch  of  Russia, 
according  to  the  ceremonies  in  use  at  Constanti- 
nople, except  that  the  patriarch  of  Russia,  was 
seated  on  the  same  ascent  with  the  sovereign, 
and  constantly  affected  an  equality  highly  insult- 
ing to  the  supreme  power. 

ALEXIS  MICHAELOWITZ. 

Alexis  was  married  in  the  same  manner  as  his 
father,  and  from  among  the  young  women  pre- 
sented, he  chose  the  one  who  appeared  the  most 
amiable  in  his  eyes.  He  married  a  daughter  of 
the  boyard  Mefoslauski,  in  1647  ;  his  second 
wife,  whom  he  married  in  1671,  was  of  the  fa- 
mily of  Nariskin,  and  his  favourite  Morosow  was 
married  to  another.     'I'here  cannot  be  a  mors 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  53 

Buitable  title  found  for  this  favoarite  tban  that  of 
vizier,  for  be  governed  the  empire  in  a  despotic 
manner  ;  and,  by  his  great  power,  excited  several 
commotions  among  the  strelitzes  and  the  popu- 
lace, as  frequently  happens  at  Constantinople. 

The  reign  of  Alexis  was  disturbed  by  bloody 
insurrections,  and  by  domestic  and  foreign  wars. 
A  chief  of  the  Don  Cossacks,  named  Stenko- 
Rasin,  endeavoured  to  make  himself  king  of 
Astracan,  and  was  for  a  long  time  very  formida- 
ble; but,  being  at  length  defeated  and  taken 
prisoner,  he  ended  his  life  by  the  hands  of  the 
executioner ;  like  all  those  of  this  stamp,  who 
have  nothing  to  expect  but  a  throne  or  a  scaflfold. 
About  twelve  thousand  of  his  adherents  are  said 
to  have  been  hanged  on  the  high  road  to  Astra- 
can.  In  this  part  of  tbe  world,  men  being  uninflu- 
enced by  morality,  were  to  be  governed  only  by 
rigour  ;  and  from  this  severity,  frequently  carried 
on  to  a  degree  of  cruelty,  arose  slavery,  and  a 
secret  thirst  of  revenge. 

Alexis  had  a  war  with  the  Poles  that  proved 
successful,  and  terminated  in  a  peace,  which 
secured  to  him  the  possession  of  Smolensko, 
Kiow,  and  the  Ukraine  :  but  he  was  unfortunate 
against  the  Swedes,  and  the  boundaries  of  the 
Russian  empire  were  contracted  within  a  very 
narrow  compass  on  that  side  of  the  kingdom. 

The  Turks  were  at  that  time  his  most  formi- 
dable enemies  :  they  invaded  Poland,  and  threat- 
ened the  dominions  of  the  czar  that  bordered 
upon  Crim  Tartary,  the  ancient  Taurica  Clierso- 
nesus.  In  1671,  tliey  took  the  important  city  of 
Kaminiek,  and  all  that  belonged  to  Poland  in 
tbe  I'kraine.  The  Coss:\cks  of  that  country, 
ever  averse  to  'Subjection,  knew  not  whether  they 
belonged  to  tlie  Turks,  Poland,  or  Uussia.  Sultan 
Mahomet  1 V.  who  had  conquered  the  Poles,  and 


54  HISTORY  OF 

had  just  imposed  a  tribute  upon  them,  demanded, 
with  all  the  haughtiness  of  an  Ottoman  victor, 
that  the  czar  should  evacuate  his  possessions  in 
the  Ukraine,  but  received  :is  haughty  a  denial 
from  that  prince.  Men  did  not  know  at  that 
time  how  to  disguise  their  pride,  by  an  outside 
of  civility.  The  sultan,  in  his  letter,  styled  the 
sovereign  of  the  Russias  only  Christian  Hospodar, 
and  entitled  himself  'most  gracious  majesty, 
king  of  the  universe.'  The  czar  replied  in  these 
terms,  '  that  he  scorned  to  submit  to  a  Mahome- 
tan dog,  and  that  his  scimetar  was  as  good  as  the 
grand  seignior's  sabre.' 

Alexis  at  that  time  formed  a  design  which 
seemed  to  presage  the  influence  which  the  Rus- 
sian empire  would  one  day  obtain  in  the  ChTJstian 
world.  He  sent  ambas.^adors  to  the  pope,  and 
to  almost  all  the  great  sovereigns  in  Europe,  ex- 
cepting France  (which  was  in  alliance  with  the 
Turks),  in  order  toestablish  a  league  against  the 
Ottoman  Porte.  His  ambassadors  at  the  court 
of  Rome  succeeded  only  in  not  being  obliged  to 
kiss  the  pope's  toe  ;  and  in  other  courts  they  met 
with  only  unprofitable  good  wishes  ;  the  quarrels 
of  the  Christian  princes  between  themselves,  and 
the  jarring  interests  arising  from  those  quarrels, 
having  constantly  prevented  them  from  uniting 
against  the  common  enemy  of  Christianity. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  Turks  threatened  to 
chastise  the  Poles,  who  refused  to  pay  their  tri- 
bute :  czar  Alexis  assisted  on  the  side  of  Crim 
Tartary,  and  John  Sobieski,  general  of  the  crown, 
wiped  off  his  countrj''s  stain  in  the  blood  of  the 
'J  urks,  at  the  famous  battle  of  Choczini,*  in  1674, 

•  Or  Chotsin,  a  town  of  Upper  Moldavia  in  European 
Turkey,  well  fortified  both  by  nature  aud  art,  situated  oa 
the  Driester,  aud  subject  to  the  Turks,  from  whom  it 
B-as  taken  by  the  Russians  in  1739. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  55 

which  paved  his  way  co  the  throne.  Alexis  dis- 
puted this  very  throne  with  him,  and  proposed 
to  unite  his  extensive  dominions  to  Poland,  as 
the  Jagellons  had  done ;  but  in  regard  to  Li- 
thuania, the  greatness  of  his  offer  was  the  cause 
of  its  being  rejected.  He  is  said  to  have  been 
very  deserving  of  the  new  kingdom,  by  the  man- 
ner in  which  he  governed  his  own.  He  was  the 
first  who  caused  a  body  of  laws  to  be  digested 
in  Russia,  though  imperfect ;  and  introduced  both 
linen  and  silk  nu'inufactures,  which  indeed  were 
not  long  kept  up  ;  nevertheless,  he  had  the  merit 
of  their  first  establishment.  He  peopled  the 
deserts  about  the  Wolga  and  the  Kama,  with 
Lithuanian,  Polish,  and  Tartarian  families,  whom 
he  had  taken  prisoners  in  his  wars :  before  his 
reign,  all  prisoners  of  war  were  the  slaves  of 
those  to  wliose  lot  they  fell.  Alexis  employed 
them  in  agriculture  :  he  did  his  utmost  endea- 
vours to  introduce  discipline  among  his  troops, 
in  a  word,  he  was  worthy  of  being  the  father  of 
Peter  the  Great ;  but  he  had  no  time  to  perfect 
what  he  had  begun,  being  snatched  away  by  a 
sudden  death,  at  the  age  of  forty-six,  in  the 
beginning  of  the  year  1677,  according  to  our  st)'le, 
which  is  eleven  days  forwarder  than  that  of 
Russia. 

F(EDOR.  or  THEODORE  ALEXIOWITZ. 
Upon  the  death  of  Alexis,  son  of  Michael,  all 
fell  again  into  confusion.  He  left,  by  his  first  mar- 
riage, two  princes,  and  six  princesses.  Theodore, 
the  eldest,  ascended  the  throne  at  fifteen  years  of 
age.  He  was  a  priice  of  a  weak  and  sickly  con- 
stitution, but  of  merit  superior  to  his  bodily  in- 
firmities. His  father  Alexis  had  caused  him  to 
be  acknowledged  his  successor,  a  year  before  his 
death  :  a  conduct  observed  by  the  kings  of  France 


56  HISTORY  OF 

from  Hugh  Capet  down  to  Lewis  tbe  Young,  and 
by  many  other  crowned  heads. 

The  second  son  of  Alexis  was  Iwan,  or  John, 
who  was  still  worse  treated  by  nature  than  his 
brother  Theodore,  being  almost  blind  and  dumb, 
very  infirm,  and  frequently  attacked  with  convul- 
sions. Of  six  daughters,  bom  of  this  first  mar- 
riage, the  only  one  who  made  any  figure  in  Europe 
was  the  princess  Sophia,  who  was  remarkable  for 
her  great  talents  ;  but  unhappily  still  more  so  for 
the  mischief  she  intended  against  Peter  the  Great. 

Alexis,  by  his  second  marriage  with  another  of 
his  subjects,  daughter  of  the  boyard  Nariskin,  had 
Peter  and  the  princess  Nathalia.  Peier  was  bom 
the  3()th  of  ]May  (or  the  10th  of  June  new  stile), 
in  the  vear  167 '2,  and  was  but  four  }  ears  old  when 
he  lost  his  father.  As  the  children  of  a  second  mar- 
riage were  not  much  regarded  in  Russia,  it  was 
little  expected  that  he  would  one  dav  mount  the 
throne. 

It  had  ever  been  the  character  of  the  family  of 
RomLmow  to  civilize  their  state.  It  was  also  that 
of  Theodore.  We  have  already  remarked,  in 
speaking  of  Moscow,  that  this  prince  encouraged 
the  inhabitants  of  that  city  to  h\  ild  a  great  number 
of  stone  bouses.  He  likewise  enlarged  that  capi- 
tal, and  made  several  useful  regulations  in  the 
general  police  ;  but,  by  attempting  to  reform  the 
boyards,  he  made  them  all  his  enemies  :  besides, 
he  was  not  possessed  of  sufficient  knowledge, 
vigour,  or  resolution,  to  venture  upon  making  a 
general  reformation.  The  war  with  the  Turks,  or 
rather  with  the  Crim  Tartars,  in  which  he  was 
constantly  engaged  with  alternate  success,  would 
not  permit  a  prince  of  his  weak  state  of  health  to 
attempt  so  great  a  work.  Theodore,  like  the  rest 
of  his  predecessors,  married  one  of  his  own  sub- 
jects, a  native  of  the  frontiers  of  Poland  ;  but  hav- 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  57 

ing  lost  her  in  less  than  a  year  after  their  nuptials, 
he  took  for  his  second  wife,  iu  168i,  Martha 
Matweowna,  daughter  of  the  secretary  Nariskin.* 
Some  months  after  this  marriage,  he  was  seized 
with  the  disorder  which  ended  his  days,  and  died 
without  leaving  any  children.  As  the  czars  mar- 
ried without  regard  to  birth,  they  might  likewise 
(at  least  at  that  time)  appoint  a  successor  without 
respect  to  primogeniture.  The  dignity  of  consort 
and  heir  to  the  sovereign  seemed  to  be  entirely 
the  reward  of  merit  ;  and,  in  that  respect,  the 
custom  of  this  empire  was  much  preferable  to  the 
customs  of  more  civilized  states. 

Theodore,  before  he  expired,  seeing  that  his 
brother  Iwan  was  by  his  natural  infirmities  in- 
capable of  governing,  nominated  his  younger 
brother  Peter,  heir  to  the  empire  of  Russia.  Peter, 
who  was  then  only  in  his  tenth  year,  had  already 
given  the  most  promising  hopes. 

If,  on  the  one  hand,  the  custom  of  raising  a 
subject  to  the  rank  of  czarina,  was  favourable  to 
the  females,  there  was  another  which  was  no  less 
hard  upon  them  ;  namely,  that  the  daughters  of 
the  czars  were  very  seldom  married,  but  were 
most  of  them  obliged  to  pass  their  lives  in  a 
monastery. 

The  princess  Sophia,  third  daughter  of  czar 
Alexis,  by  his  first  marriage,  was  possessed  of 
abilities,  equally  great  and  dangerous.  Perceiv- 
ing that  her  brother  Theodore  had  not  long  to  live, 
she  did  not  retire  to  a  convent ;  but  finding  her- 
self situated  between  two  brothers,  one  of  whom 
was  incapable  of  governing,  through  his  natural 
inability  ;  and  the  other,  on  account  of  his  youth, 

•  This  must  certainly  be  a  mistake  of  M.  de  Voltaire, 
or  an  error  in  the  pres^s  ;  for  the  lady  here  spoken  of  WM 
the  daughter  of  Matthias  Apraxim,  a  person  on  whom 
Theodore  had  lately  conferred  nobility. 

C2 


58  HISTORY  OF 

she  conceived  the  design  of  j.  lacing  herself  at  the 
head  of  the  empire.  Hence,  in  the  last  hours  of 
czar  Theodore,  she  attempted  to  act  the  part  that 
Pulcheria  had  formerly  played  with  her  brother, 
the  emperor  Theodosius. 


CHAP.  IV. 

JOHN  A'SD  PETER. 

Horrible  Sedition  among  the  Strelitzes.* 

1682.  r^ZAR  Theodore's  eyes  were  scarcely 
closed,  when  the  nomination  of  a 
prince  of  only  ten  years  old  to  the  throne,  the  ex- 
clusion of  the  elder  brother,  and  the  intrigues  of 
the  princess  Sophia,  their  sister,  excited  a  most 
bloody  revolt  among  the  strelitzes.  Never  did 
the  janissaries,  nor  the  praetorian  guards,  exercise 
more  horrible  barbarities.  The  insurrection  be- 
gan two  days  after  the  interment  of  Theodore, 
when  they  all  ran  to  arms  in  the  Kremlin,  which 
is  the  imperial  palace  at  Moscow.  There  they 
began  with  accusing  nine  of  their  colonels,  for 
keeping  back  part  of  their  pay.  The  ministry 
was  obliged  to  break  the  colonels,  and  to  pay  the 
strelitzes  the  money  they  demanded  :  but  this  did 
not  satisfy  them,  they  insisted  upon  having  these 
nine  officers  delivered  up  to  them,  and  condemned 
them,  by  a  majority  of  votes,  to  suflFer  the  Battogs, 
or  Knout ;  the  manner  of  which  punishment  is  as 
follows  : — 

The  delinquent  is  stripped  naked,  and  laid  flat 
*n  his  belly,  while  two  executioners  beat  him 
,iPver  the  back  with  switches,  or  small  canes,  till 

•  Extracted  wholly  from  the  memoirs  sent  from 
Moscow  and  Petersburg. 


PETEBL  THE  GREAT.  59 

the  judge,  who  stands  by  to  see  the  sentence  put 
in  execution,  says,  *  It  is  enough.'  The  colonels, 
after  being  thus  treated  by  their  men ,  were  obliged 
to  return  them  thanks,  according  to  the  custom  of 
the  eastern  nations  ;  where  criminals,  after  un- 
dergoing their  punishment,  must  kiss  the  judge's 
hand.  Besides  complying  with  this  custom,  the 
officers  gave  them  a  sum  of  money,  which  was 
something  more  than  the  custom. 

While  the  strelitzes  thus  began  to  make  them- 
selves formidable,  the  princess  Sophia,  who  se- 
cretly encouraged  them,  in  order  to  lead  them  by 
degrees  from  crime  to  crime,  held  a  meeting  at 
her  house,  consisting  of  the  princesses  of  the  blood , 
the  generals  of  the  army,  the  boyards,  the  patri- 
arch, the  bishops,  and  even  some  of  the  principal 
merchants  ;  where  she  represented  to  them,  that 
prince  John,  by  right  of  birch  and  merit,  was  en- 
titled to  the  em})ire,  the  reigns  of  which  she  in- 
tended to  keep  in  her  own  liands.  At  the  break- 
ing up  of  the  assembly,  she  caused  a  promise  to 
be  made  to  the  strelitzes,  of  an  augmentation  of 
pay,  besides  considerable  presents.  Her  emis- 
saries were  in  particular  employed  to  stir  up  the 
soldiery  against  the  Nariskin  family,  especially 
the  two  brothers  of  the  young  dowager  cz;irina, 
the  mother  of  Peter  the  First.  These  persuaded 
the  strelitzes,  that  one  of  the  brothers,  named 
John,  had  put  on  the  imperial  robes,  had  seated 
himself  on  the  throne,  and  had  attempted  to 
strangle  prince  John  ;  adding,  moreover,  that  the 
late  czar  Theodore  had  been  poisoned  by  a  villain, 
named  Daniel  Vongad,  a  Dutch  physician.  At 
last  Sophia  put  into  their  hands  a  list  of  forty 
noblemen,  whom  she  stiled  enemies  to  their  corps, 
and  to  the  state,  and  as  such  worthy  of  death. 
These  proceedings  exactly  resembled  the  pro- 
sctiptions  of  Sylla,  and  the  Roman  triumvirate. 


60  HISTORY  (^F 

which  had  been  revived  by  Christian  II.  in  Den- 
mark and  Sweden,  This  may  serve  to  shew,  that 
such  cruelties  prevail  in  all  countries  in  times  of 
anarchy  and  confusion.  The  mutineers  began  the 
tragedy  with  throwing  the  two  knez,  or  princes, 
Dolgorouki  and  IMatheof,  out  of  the  palace-win- 
dows ;  whom  the  strelitzes  received  upon  the 
points  of  their  spears,  then  stripped  them,  and 
dragged  their  dead  bodies  into  the  great  square  ; 
after  this  they  rushed  into  the  palace,  where  meet- 
ing with  Athanasius  Nariskin,  a  brother  of  the 
young  czarina,  and  one  of  the  unclesof  czar  Peter, 
they  murdered  him  in  like  manner  ;  then  break- 
ing open  the  door  of  a  neighbouring  church,  where 
three  of  the  proscribed  persons  had  taken  refuge, 
they  drag  them  from  the  altar,  strip  them  naked, 
and  stab  them  to  death  with  knives. 

They  were  so  blinded  with  their  fury,  that  see- 
ing a  young  nobleman  of  the  family  of  Soltikoff,  a 
great  favourite  of  theirs,  and  who  was  not  in- 
cluded in  the  list  of  the  proscribed,  and  some  of 
them  mistaking  him  for  John  Nariskin,  whom 
they  were  in  search  of,  they  murdered  him  upon 
the  spot  ;  and  what  plainly  shews  the  manners 
of  those  times,  after  having  discovered  their 
error,  they  carried  the  body  of  yoang  SoltikofF,  to 
his  father  to  bury  it ;  and  the  wretched  parent, 
far  from  daring  to  complain,  gave  them  a  consi- 
derable reward  for  bringing  him  the  mangled 
body  of  his  son.  Being  reproached  by  his  wife, 
his  daughters,  and  the  widow  of  the  deceased, 
for  his  weakness,  •  Let  us  wait  for  an  opportunity 
of  being  revenged,'  said  the  old  man.  These 
words  being  overheard  by  some  of  the  soldiers, 
they  returned  furiously  back  into  the  room, 
dragged  the  aged  parent  by  the  hair,  and  cut  his 
throat  at  his  own  door. 

Another  party   of  the    strelitzes,  who   wero 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  61 

•couring  the  city  in  search  of  the  Dutch  physi- 
cian, Vongad,  met  with  his  son,  of  whom  they 
inquired  for  his  father  ;  the  youth  trembling,  re- 
plied, he  did  not  know  where  he  was,  upon 
which  they  immediately  dispatched  him.  Soon 
after,  a  German  physician  falling  in  their  way, 
'  You  are  a  doctor,'  said  they,  '  and  if  you  did 
not  poison  our  master,  Theodore,  you  have 
poisoned  others,  and  therefore  merit  death  ;'  and 
thereupon  killed  him. 

At  length  they  found  the  Dutchman,  of  whom 
they  were  in  quest,  disguised  in  the  garb  of  a 
beggar;  they  instantly  drag  him  before  the 
palace.  The  princesses  who  loved  this  worthy 
man,  and  placed  great  confidence  in  his  skill, 
begged  the  strelitzes  to  spare  him,  assuring 
them  that  he  was  a  very  good  physician,  and  had 
taken  all  possible  care  of  their  brother  Theodore. 
The  strelitzes  made  answer,  that  he  not  only  de- 
served to  die  as  a  physician,  but  also  as  a  sor- 
cerer ;  and  that  they  had  found  in  his  house,  a 
great  dried  toad,  and  the  skin  of  a  serpent.  They 
furthermore  required  to  have  young  Nariskin  de- 
livered up  to  them,  whom  they  had  searched  for 
in  vain  for  two  days  :  alleging,  that  he  was  cer- 
tainly in  the  palace,  and  that  they  woul-.'  set  fire 
to  it,  unless  lie  was  put  into  their  hands.  The 
sisterof  John  Nariskin,  and  theother  princesses, 
terrified  by  their  menaces,  went  to  acquaint  their 
unhappy  brother  in  the  place  of  his  concealment, 
with  what  had  passed-;  upon  which  the  patriarch 
heard  his  confession,  administers  the  viaticum, 
and  extreme  unction  to  him,  and  then,  taking 
an  image  of  the  blessed  Virgin,  which  was  said 
to  perform  miracles,  he  leads  the  young  man 
forth  by  the  hand,  and  presents  him  to  the  stre- 
litzes, shewing  them,  at  the  same  time,  the  image 
of  the  Virgin.     The  princesses,  who  in  tears  s\ii» 


62  HISTORY  OF 

rounded  Nariskin,  falling  upon  their  kn?es  before 
the  soldiers,  besought  them,  in  the  name  of  the 
blessed  Virgin,  to  spare  their  relation's  life  ;  but 
the  inhuman  wretches  tore  him  from  their  arms, 
and  dragged  him  to  the  foot  of  the  stairs,  toge- 
ther with  the  phvsician  Vongad,  where  they 
held  a  kind  of  tribunal  among  themselves,  and 
condemned  them  both  eo  be  put  to  the  torture. 
One  of  the  soldiers,  who  could  write,  drew  up  a 
form  of  accusation,  and  sentenced  the  two  unfor- 
tunate princes  to  be  cut  in  pieces  ;  a  punishment 
inflicted  in  China  and  Tartary  on  parricides,  and 
called  the  punishment  of  ten  thousand  slices. 
After  having  thus  used  Nariskin  and  Vongad, 
tbev  exposed  their  heads,  feet,  and  hands,  on  the 
iron  points  of  a  balustrade. 

While  this  partv  of  the  strelitzes  were  thus 
glutting  their  fury  in  the  sight  of  the  princesses, 
the  rest  massacred  every  one  who  was  obnoxious 
to  them,  or  suspected  by  the  princess  Sophia. 

This  horrid  tragedy  concluded  with  proclaim-  * 
iug  the  two  princes,  John  and  Peter,  in  June, 
1682,  joint  sovereigns,  and  associating  their 
sister  Sophia  with  them,  in  the  quality  of  co- 
regent  ;  who  then  publicly  approved  of  ail  their 
outrages,  gave  them  rewards,  confiscated  the  es- 
tates of  the  proscribed,  and  bestowed  them  upon 
their  murderers.  She  even  permitted  them  to 
erect  a  monument,  with  the  names  of  the  per- 
sons they  had  murderetl.  as  being  traitors  to  their 
country  :  and  to  crown  all,  she  published  letters- 
patent,  thanking  them  for  their  zeal  and  fidelity. 


PETEFy  the  great.  63 


CHAP.  V. 

Administration  of  the  princess  Sophia.     Extraordi- 
nary quarrel  about  religion.     A  conspiracy. 

CUCH  were  tlie  steps  by  which  the  princess 
Sophia  did  in  effect  ascend  the  throne  of 
Russia,  though  without  being  declared  czarina  ; 
and  such  the  examples  that  Peter  the  First  had 
before  his  eyes.  Sophia  enjoyed  all  the  honours 
of  a  sovereign ;  her  bust  was  on  the  public  coin  ; 
she  signed  all  dispatches,  held  the  first  place  in 
council,  and  enjoyed  a  power  without  control. 
She  was  possessed  of  a  great  share  of  under- 
standing, and  some  wit ;  made  verses  in  the  Rus- 
sian language,  and  both  spoke  and  wrote  ex- 
tremely well.  These  talents  were  set  off  by  the 
addition  of  an  agreeable  person,  and  sullied  only 
by  her  ambition. 

She  procured  a  wife  for  her  brother  John,  in 
the  manner  already  described  in  several  exam- 
ples. A  young  lady  named  Soltikoff,  of  the  fa- 
mily with  the  nobleman  of  that  name  who  had 
been  assassinated  by  the  seditious  slrelitzes,  was 
sent  for  from  the  heart  of  Siberia,  where  her  fa- 
ther commanded  a  fortress,  to  be  presented  to 
czar  John  at  Moscow.  Her  beauty  triumphed 
over  all  the  intrigues  of  her  rivals,  and  John  was 
married  to  hfr  in  168-1.  At  every  marriage  of  a 
czar  we  seem  to  read  the  history  of  Ahasuerus, 
or  that  of  Theodosius  the  Younger. 

In  the  midst  of  the  rejoicings  on  account  of 
this  marriage,  the  strelitzes  raised  a  new  insur- 
rection, and  (who  would  believe  itl)  on  account 
of  religion!  of  a  particular  tenet!  Had  they 
been  mere  soldiers,  they  would  never  have  !«}- 
come  coutroveriists,    but  they  were    also  citi- 


64  HISTORY  OP 

zens  cf  Moscow.  Whosoever  has,  or  assumes 
a  right  of  speaking  in  an  authoritative  manner 
to  the  populace,  may  found  a  sect.  This  has 
been  seen  in  all  ages,  and  all  parts  of  the  world, 
especially  since  the  passion  of  dogmatizing  has 
become  the  instrument  of  ambition,  and  the  terror 
of  weak  minds. 

Russia  had  experienced  some  previous  disturb- 
ances on  occasion  of  a  dispute,  whether  the  sign 
of  the  cross  vras  to  be  made  with  three  fingers,  or 
with  two  !  One  Abakum,  who  was  also  a  priest, 
had  set  up  sc:ne  new  tenets  at  Moscow,  in  re- 
gard to  the  Holy  Spirit ;  which  according  to  the 
Scriptures,  enlightened  all  the  faithful ;  as  like- 
wise with  respect  to  the  equality  of  the  primitive 
Christians,  and  these  words  of  Christ : — '  There 
shall  be  amongst  jou  neither  first  nor  last.' 
Several  citizens  and  many  of  the  strelitzes,  em- 
braced the  opinions  of  Abakum.  One  Raspop* 
was  the  chief  of  this  party,  which  became  consi- 
derable. The  sectaries,  at  length,  entered  (July 
16,  1682,  new  stile)  the  cathedral,  where 
the  patriarch  and  his  clergy  were  officiating ; 
drove  them  out  of  the  church  with  stones,  and 
seated  themselves  very  devoutly  in  their  places, 
to  receive  the  Holy  Spirit.  They  called  the  pa- 
triarch the  '  ravenous  wolf  in  the  sheepfold ;'  a 
title  which  all  sects  have  liberally  bestowed  on 
each  other.  The  princess  Sophia,  and  the  two 
czars,  were  immediately  made  acquainted  with 
these  disturbances:  and  the  other  strelitzes,  who 
were  stauuch  to  the  good  old  cause,  were  given 
to  understand,  that  the  czars  and  the  church 
were  in  danger.     Upon  this  the  strelitzes  and 

•  Here  M.  de  Voltaire  seems  to  have  greatly  mistaken 
the  sense  of  this  word.  Raspop  not  being  a  proper 
name,  in  which  sense  he  takes  it,  but  signifies  a  degraded 
priest. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  65 

burghers  of  the  patriarchal  party  attacked  the 
Abakumists  :  but  a  stop  was  put  to  the  carnage, 
by  publishing  a  convocation  of  a  council,  which 
was  immediately  assembled  in  a  hall  of  the 
palace.  This  took  up  very  little  time,  for  they 
obliged  every  priest  they  met  to  attend.  The 
patriarch,  and  a  bishop,  disputed  against  Ras- 
pop ;  but  at  the  second  syllogism,  they  began  to 
throw  stones  at  one  another.  The  council  ended 
wi;h  ordering  Raspop,  and  some  of  his  faithful 
disciples  to  have  their  heads  struck  off;  and  the 
s  ntence  was  executed  by  the  sole  order  of  the 
three  sovereigns,  Sophia,  John,  and  Peter. 

During  these  troubles,  there  was  a  knez,  named 
Chowanskoi,  who  having  been  instrumental  in 
raising  the  princess  Sophia  to  the  dignity  she  then 
held,  wanted,  as  a  reward  for  his  services,  to 
have  a  share  in  the  administration. 

It  may  be  supposed,  that  he  found  Sophia  not 
so  grateful  as  he  could  wish  ;  upon  which  he  es- 
poused the  cause  of  religion,  and  the  persecuted 
Raspopians,  and  stirred  up  a  party  among  the 
streliizes  and  the  people,  in  defence  of  God's 
name. 

This  conspiracy  proved  a  more  serious  affair 
than  the  tnthusiastic  riot  of  Raspop.  An  ambi- 
tious hypocrite  always  cairies  things  farther  than 
a  simple  fanatic.  Chowanskoi  aimed  at  no  less 
than  the  imperial  dignity  ;  and  to  rid  himself  of 
all  cause  of  fear,  he  resolved  to  murder  the  two 
czars,  Sophia,  the  other  princesses,  and  every 
one  who  was  attached  to  the  imperial  family. 
The  czars  and  tlie  princesses  were  obliged  to  re- 
tire to  the  monastery  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  within 
twelve  leagues  of  Petersburg.*  'I'his  was,  at  the 
same  time,  a  convent,  a  palace,  and  a  fortress, 

*  We  suppose  the  author  meaiis  Moscow. 


6b  HlSTORi'  OF 

like  Mount Cassino,*  Corby, t  Fulda  f  Kempten,$ 
and  several  others  belonging  to  the  Latin  church. 
This  monastery  of  the  Trinity  belongs  to  the 
monks  of  St.  Basil.  It  is  surrounded  by  deep 
ditches,  and  ramparts  of  brick,  on  which  is  planted 
a  numerous  artillery.  The  monks  are  possessed 
of  all  the  country  round  for  four  leagues.  The 
imperial  family  were  in  full  safely  there,  but  more 
on  account  of  the  strength,  than  the  sanctity  of 
the  place.  Here  Sophia  treated  with  the  rebel 
knez  ;  and  having  decoyed  him  halfway,  caused 
his  head  to  bf  struck  off,  together  with  those  of 
.^jj„  one  of  his  sons,  and  thirty-seven  stre- 
litzes  who  accompanied  him. 
The  body  of  strelitzes  upon  this  news,  fly  to 
arms,  and  march  to  attack  the  convent  of  Trinity, 
threatening  to  destroy  every  thing  that  canie  in 
their  way.  The  imperial  family  stood  upon  their 
defence  ;  the  boyards  arm  their  vassals,  all  ihe 
gentlemen  flocked  in,  and  a  bloody  civil  war 
seemed  on  the  point  of  beginning.  The  patriarch 
somewhat  pacified  the  strelitzes,  who  began  to 
be  intimidated  with  the  number  of  troops  that 
were  marching  towards  them  on  all  sides :  in  short, 
their  fury  was  changed  into  fear,  and  their  fear 
into  the  most  abject  submission  ;  a  change  com- 

•  Or  Cossano,  a  small  town  and  abbey  in  the  Milanese. 
Oa  the  Adda,  near  this  place,  an  obstinate  battle  waa 
fought  between  the  Germans  and  French,  in  17. ">5,  when 
prince  Eugene  defeated  the  duke  of  Vendome. 

f  A  town  and  abbey  on  the  borders  of  Westphalia,  in 
Germany  ;  the  abbot  of  which  is  a  sovereign  prince,  and 
has  a  seat  in  the  imperial  diet. 

X  Or  Fuld,  a  town  and  abbey  of  Hesse,  in  Germany  ; 
■itnate  on  a  river  of  the  same  name.  It  is  governed  by 
tn  abbot,  who  is  a  prince  of  the  empire, 

9  An  imperial  city  of  Suabia,  in  Germany,  situate  ov 
the  Ifar 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  67 

moD  to  the  multitude.  Three  thousand  seven 
hundred  of  this  corps,  followed  by  their  wives 
and  children,  with  ropes  tied  about  their  necks, 
went  in  procession  to  the  convent  of  the  Trinity, 
which  three  days  before  they  had  threatened  to 
burn  to  the  ground.  In  this  condition,  these  un- 
happy wretches  present  themselves  before  the 
gate  of  the  convent,  two  by  two,  one  carrying  a 
block  and  another  an  axe  ;  and  prostrating  them- 
selves on  the  ground,  waited  for  their  sentence. 
They  were  pardoned  upon  their  submission,  and 
returned  back  to  Moscow,  blessing  their  sove- 
reigns ;  and  still  disposed,  though  unknown  to 
themselves,  to  commit  the  same  crime  upon  the 
very  first  opportunity. 

These  commotions  being  subsided,  the  state 
resumed  an  exterior  of  tranquillity;  but  Sophia 
still  remained  possessed  of  the  chief  authority, 
leaving  John  to  his  incapacity,  and  keeping  Peter 
in  the  subjection  of  a  ward.  In  order  to  strengthen 
her  power,  she  shared  it  with  Prince  Basil  Ga- 
litzin,  whom  she  created  generalissimo,  mmister 
of  slate,  and  lord  keeper.  Galitzin  was  in  every 
respect  superior  to  any  person  in  that  distracted 
court :  he  was  polite,  magnificent,  full  of  great 
designs,  more  learned  than  any  of  his  country- 
men, as  having  received  a  much  better  education, 
and  was  even  master  of  the  l^atin  tongue,  which 
was,  at  that  time,  almost  entirely  unknown  in 
Russia.  He  was  of  an  active  and  indefatigable 
spirit,  had  a  genius  superior  to  the  times  he  lived 
in,  and  capable,  had  he  had  leisure  and  power, 
as  he  had  inclination,  to  have  changed  the  face 
of  things  in  Russia.  This  is  the  eulogium  given 
of  him  by  La  Neuville,  at  that  time  the  Polisii 
envoy  in  Russia;  and  the  encomiums  of  foreigner* 
are  seldom  to  be  suspected. 

Thia  minister  bridled  the.  insolence  of  the  stBT- 


68  HISTORY  OF 

litzes,  by  distributing  the  most  mutinous  of  that 
body  among  the  several  regiments  in  the  Ukraine, 
in  Casan,  and  Siberia.  It  was  under  his  admi- 
nistration that  the  Poles,  long  the  rivals  of  Rus- 
sia, gare  up,  in  1686,  all  pretensions  to  the  large 
provinces  ofSmolensko  and  the  Ukraine.  He 
was  the  first  who  sent  an  embassy  to  France,  in 
1687;  a  country  which  had,  for  upwards  of 
twenty  years,  been  in  the  zenith  of  its  glory,  by 
the  conquests,  new  establishments,  and  the  mag- 
nificence of  Lewis  XIV.  and  especially  by  the 
improvement  of  the  arts,  there  can  be  not  only 
external  grandeur,  but  solid  glory.  France  had 
not  then  entered  into  any  correspondence  with 
Russia,  or  rather  was  unacquainted  with  that  em- 
pire ;  and  the  academy  of  inscriptions  ordered  a 
medal  to  be  struck  to  couimemorate  this  embassy, 
as  if  it  had  come  from  the  most  distant  part  of 
the  Indies  ;  but  notwithstanding  all  this,  the  am- 
bassador Dolgorouski  miscarried  in  his  negotia- 
tion, and  even  suffered  some  gross  affronts  on  ac- 
count of  the  behaviour  of  his  domestics,  whose 
mistakes  it  would  have  been  better  to  have  over- 
looked ;  but  the  court  of  Lewis  XIV.  could  not 
then  foresee,  that  France  and  Russia  would  one 
day  reckon  among  the  number  of  their  advan- 
tages, that  of  being  cemented  by  the  closest  union. 

Russia  t^as  now  quiet  at  home,  but  she  was 
still  pent  up  on  the  side  of  Sweden,  though  en- 
larged towards  Poland,  her  new  ally,  in  continual 
alarms  on  the  side  of  Crim  Tartar v,  and  at  va- 
riance with  China  in  regard  to  the  frontiers. 

The  most  intolerable  circumstance  for  their  em- 
pire, and  which  plainlv  shewed,  that  it  had  not  yet 
attained  to  a  vigorous  and  regular  administration, 
was,  that  the  khan  of  the  Crim  Tartars  exacted 
an  annual  tribute  of  6000  rubles,  in  the  nature 
of  that  which  the  I'urk  had  imposed  on  the  Poles. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  69 

Crim  Tartary  is  the  ancieut  Taurica  Cherso- 
nesus,  formerly  so  famous  by  the  commerce  of 
the  Greeks,  and  still  more  by  their  fables,  a 
fruitful  but  barbarous  country.  It  took,  its  name 
of  Crimea,  or  Crim,  from  the  title  of  its  first  khans, 
who  took  this  name  before  the  conquests  of  the 
sons  of  Gengis  Khan.  To  free  his  country  from 
this  yoke,  and  wipe  off  the  disgrace  of  such  tri- 
bute, the  prime  minister,  Galitzin,  marched  in 
person  (1687,  16B8,)  into  Crim  Tartar)%  at  the 
head  of  a  numerous  army.  These  armies  were 
not  to  be  compared  to  the  present  troops  ;  they 
had  no  discipline  ;  there  was  hardly  one  regi- 
ment completely  armed  ;  they  had  no  uniform 
clothing,  no  regularity  :  their  men  indeed  were 
inured  to  hard  labour  and  a  scarcity  of  provisions, 
but  then  they  carried  with. them  such  a  prodi- 
gious quantity  of  baggage,  as  far  exceeded  any 
thing  of  the  kind  in  our  camps,  where  the  great- 
est luxury  prevails.  Their  vast  numbers  of  wag- 
gons for  carrying  ammunition  and  provisions,  in 
an  uninhabitable  and  desert  country,  greatly  re- 
tarded the  expedition  against  Crim  rartary.  The 
army  found  itself  in  the  midst  of  the  vast  deserts, 
on  the  river  Samara,  unprovided  with  magazines. 
Here  Galitzin  did  what  in  my  opinion,  was  never 
done  any  where  else  :  he  employed  thirty  thou- 
sand men  in  building  a  town  on  the  banks  of 
the  Samara,  to  serve  as  a  place  for  magazines 
in  the  ensuing  campaign  :  it  was  begun  in  one 
year,  and  finii^hed  in  the  third  month  of  the  fol- 
lowing ;  the  houses  indeed  were  all  wood  except 
two,  which  were  brick  ;  the  ramparts  were  of 
turf,  but  well  lined  with  artillery  ;  and  the  whole 
place  was  in  a  tolerable  state  of  defence. 

This  was  all  that  was  done  of  any  consequence 
in  this  ruinous  expedition.  In  the  mean  while 
Sophia  continued  to  govern  in  Moscow,  while 


70  HISTORY  OF 

John  had  only  the  name  of  czar  ;  and  Petei 
now  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  had  already  tbi 
courage  to  aim  at  real  S!;vereignty.  La  Neuville, 
the  Polish  envoy,  then  resident  at  Moscow,  and 
who  was  eye-witness  to  all  that  passed,  pretends 
that  Sophia  and  Galitzin  had  engaged  the  new 
chief  of  the  screlilzes,  to  sacrifice  to  them  their 
young  czar  :  it  appears,  at  least,  that  six  hun- 
dred of  these  strelitzes  were  to  have  made  them- 
selves masters  of  his  person.  The  private  me- 
moirs which  hate  been  entrusted  to  my  perusal 
by  the  court  of  Russia,  afl5rm,  that  a  scheme  had 
actually  been  laid  to  murder  Peter  the  First  : 
the  blow  was  on  the  point  of  being  struck,  and 
Russia  for  ever  deprived  of  the  new  existence 
she  has  since  received.  The  czar  was  once 
more  obliged  to  take  refuge  in  the  convent  of 
the  Trinity,  the  usual  asylum  of  the  court  when 
threatened  by  the  soldiers.  There  he  assembled 
the  boyards  of  his  party,  raised  a  body  of  forces, 
treats  with  the  captains  of  the  strelitzes,  and 
called  in  the  assistance  of  certain  Germans,  who 
had  been  long  settled  in  Moscow,  and  were  all 
attached  to  his  person  from  his  having  already 
slie-R-n  himself  the  encourager  of  strangers.  Sophia 
and  John,  who  continued  at  Mo.scow,  used  every 
means  to  engage  the  strelitzes  to  remain  firm  to 
their  interests ;  but  the  cause  of  young  Peter, 
who  loudly  complained  of  an  attempt  meditated 
against  himself  and  his  mother,  prevailed  over 
that  of  the  princess,  and  of  a  czar,  whose  very 
aspect  alienated  all  hearts.  All  the  acomplices 
were  punished  with  a  severity  to  which  that 
country  was  as  much  accustomed  as  to  tbe  crimes 
which  occasioned  it.  Some  were  beheaded  after 
undergoing  the  punishment  of  the  knout  or  bat- 
tocks  The  chief  of  the  strelitzes  was  put  to 
death  in  the   same  manner,  and  several  other 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  ti 

•uspected  persons  had  their  tongues  cut  out. 
Prince  Galitzin  escaped  with  his  life,  through 
the  intercession  of  one  of  his  relations,  who  was 
a  favourite  of  czar  Peter  ;  but  he  was  stripped 
of  all  his  riches,  which  were  immense,  and  ba- 
nished to  a  phice  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Arch- 
angel. La  Neuville,  who  was  present  at  the 
whole  of  this  catastrophe,  relates,  that  the  sen- 
tence pronounced  upon  Galitziu  was  in  these 
terms  :  '  Thou  art  commanded,  by  the  most  cle- 
ment czar,  to  repair  to  Karga,  a  town  under  the 
pole,  and  there  to  continue  the  remainder  of  thy 
days.  His  majesty,  out  of  his  extreme  goodness, 
allows  thee  three  pence  per  day  for  thy  sub- 
sistence.' 

There  is  no  town  under  the  pole.  Karga  is 
in  the  62d  degree  of  latitude,  and  only  six  de- 
grees and  a  half  further  north  than  Moscow. 
Whoever  pronounced  this  sentence  must  have 
been  a  very  bad  geographer.  La  Neuville  was 
probably  imposed  upon  by  a  false  account. 

1689.]  At  length  the  princess  Sophia  was  once 
more  sent  back  to  her  monastery  at  Moscow,* 
after  having  so  long  held  the  reins  of  government; 
and  this  revolution  proved,  to  a  woman  of  her 
disposition,  a  sufficient  punishment. 

From  this  instant  Peter  began  to  reign  in 
reality  ;  his  brother  John  havin;,^  no  other  share 
in  the  government,  but  that  of  seeing  his  name  to 
all  public  acts.  He  led  a  retired  life,  and  died 
in  1646. 

*  How  are  we  to  reconcile  this  with  what  the  author 
tells  u«  in  the  latter  part  of  the  third  chapter,  where  ho 
•ays,  that  this  princess,  ;»erceiTing  that  her  brother  Theo- 
dore was  near  his  end,  declined  retiring  to  a  convent,  a* 
was  the  uBoal  custom  ti  the  princessea  of  the  imperial 
family. 


72  HISTORY  OP 

CHAP.  VI. 

The  reigc  of  Peter  the  First. — Beginning  of 
the  grand  reformation. 

pETERthe  Great  was  tall,  genteel,  well-made, 
with  a  noble  aspect,  piercing  eyes  and  a  ro- 
bust constitution,  fitted  for  all  kinds  of  hardship 
and  bodily  exercise.  He  had  a  sound  under- 
standing, which  is  the  basis  of  all  real  abilities  ; 
and  to  this  was  joined  an  active  disposition, 
which  prompted  him  to  undertake  and  execute 
the  greatest  things.  His  education  was  far  from 
being  worthy  of  his  genius.  The  princess  Sophia 
was,  in  a  peculiar  manner,  interested  to  let  him 
remain  in  ignorance,  and  to  indulge  himself  in 
those  excesses  which  youth,  idleness,  custom, 
and  the  high  rank  he  held,  made  but  too  allow- 
able. Nevertheless,  he  had  been  lately  married, 
(June  1689)  like  others  of  his  predecessors,  to  one 
of  his  own  subjects,  the  daughter  of  colonel  La- 
puchin  ;  but,  as  he  was  young,  and  for  some  time 
enjoyed  none  of  the  prerogatives  of  the  crown, 
but  that  of  indulging  his  pleasures  without  re- 
straint, the  ties  of  wedlock  were  not  always  suf- 
ficient to  keep  him  within  just  bounds.  The 
pleasures  of  the  table,  in  which  he  indulged  him- 
self rather  too  freely,  with  foreigners,  who  had 
been  invited  to  Moscow  by  prince  Galitzin, 
seemed  not  to  presage  that  he  would  one  day  be- 
come the  reformer  of  his  country  ;  however,  in 
spite  of  bad  examples,  and  even  the  allurements 
of  pleasure,  he  applied  himself  to  the  arts  of 
war  and  government,  and  which,  even  then, 
shewed  that  he  had  the  seeds  of  greatness  in  him. 
It  was  still  less  expected,  that  a  prince,  who 
was  subject  to  such  a  constitutional  dread  of 
water,  as  to  subject  him  to  cold  sweats,  and  even 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  73 

convulsions,  when  be  was  obliged  to  cross  asnnall 
river  or  brook,  should  become  one  of  the  best 
seamen  in  all  the  north.  In  order  to  get  the 
better  of  nature,  he  began  by  jumping  into  the 
water,  notwithstanding  the  horror  he  felt  at  it, 
till  at  length  this  aversion  was  changed  into  a 
fondness  for  that  element.* 

He  often  blushed  at  the  ignorance  in  which  he 
had  been  brought  up.  He  learned,  almost  of  him- 
self, without  the  help  of  a  master,  enough  of  Ger- 
man and  high  Dutch,  to  be  able  to  write  and  ex- 
plain himself  tolerably  well  in  both  those  lan- 
guages. The  Germans  and  Dutch  appeared  to 
him  as  the  most  civilized  nations,  because  the 
former  had  already  erected,  in  Moscow,  some  of 
those  arts  and  manufactures  which  he  was  de- 
sirous of  seeing  established  in  his  empire',  and  the 
latter  excelled  in  the  art  of  navigation,  which  he 
already  began  to  look  upon  as  the  most  necessary 
of  all  others. 

Such  were  the  dispositions  which  Peter  che- 
rished, notwithstanding  the  follies  of  his  youth. 
At  the  same  time,  he  found  himself  disturbed  by 
factions  at  home,  had  the  turbulent  spirit  of  the 
Btrelitzes  to  keep  under,  and  an  almost  uninter- 

•  We  find,  in  the  memoirs  of  count  Strahlemberg,  a 
Swedish  ofl&cer,  who  was  taken  prisoner  at  the  battle  of 
Pultowa,  and  continued  many  years  at  the  court  of  czar 
Peter,  the  following  account  of  the  true  cause  of  this  ex- 
traordinary kind  of  hydrophobia.  When  Peter  was  about 
five  jears  of  age,  his  mother  took  him  with  her  in  a 
coach  for  an  airing,  and  having  to  pass  a  dam,  where 
there  was  a  great  fall  of  water  the  child,  who  was  then 
sleeping  in  his  nurse's  lap,  was  so  terrified  by  the  rush- 
ing  of  the  water  (the  noise  of  which  waked  him  sud- 
denly out  of  his  sleep),  that  he  was  seized  with  a  violent 
fever,  and,  after  his  recover^',  he  retained  sucli  a  dread 
of  that  element,  that  he  could  not  bear  the  8i2;ht  even  of 
any  standing  water,  much  leas  to  bear  n  running  stream 
D 


74  HISTORY  OF 

mpted  war  to  manage  against  the  Grim  Tartars, 
For  thotigh  hostilities  had  been  suspended  in 
1689,  by  a  truce,  it  had  no  long  continuance. 

During  this  interval,  Peter  became  confirmed  in 
his  design  of  introducing  the  arts  into  his  couctrv. 

His  father  Alexis  had,  in  his  lifetime,  enter- 
tained the  same  views,  but  he  wanted  leisure, 
and  a  favourable  opportunity  to  carry  them  into 
execution  ;  he  transmitted  his  genius  to  his  son, 
who  was  more  clear-sighted,  more  vigorous,  and 
more  unshaken  by  difficulties  and  obstacles. 

Alexis  had  been  at  a  great  expense  in  sending 
for  Bothler,*  a  ship  builder  and  sea  captain,  from 
Holland,  together  with  a  number  of  shipwrights 
and  sailors.  These  built  a  large  frigate  and  a 
yacht  up.on  the  Wolga,  which  they  navigated 
down  that  river  to  Astracan,  where  they  were  to 
be  employed  in  building  more  vessels,  for  carry- 
ing on  an  advantageous  trade  with  Persia,  by  the 
Caspian  Sea.  Just  at  this  time  the  revolt  of 
Stenko-Rasin  broke  out,  and  this  rebel  destroyed 
these  two  vessels,  which  he  ought  to  }iave  pre- 
served for  his  O'rni  sake,  and  murdered  the  cap- 
tain ;  the  rest  of  the  crew  fled  into  Persia,  from 
whence  they  got  to  some  settle<nents  belonging 
to  the  Dutch  East  India  company.  A  mastsi- 
builder,  who  was  a  good  shipwright,  staid  behind 
in  Russia,  where  he  lived  a  long  time  in  obscurity. 

One  day,  Peter  taking  a  walk  at  Ishmaelof,  a 
summer-palace  built  by  his  grandfather,  he  per- 
ceived, among  several  other  rarities,  an  old  Eng- 
lish shallop,  which  had  lain  entirely  neglected  : 
upon  which  he  asked  Timmerman,  a  German, 
and  his  mathematical  teacher,  how  came  that 
little  boat  to  be  of  so  different  a  construction  from 
any  he  had  seen  on  the  iMoska  1  Timmerman  re 
plied,  that  it  was  made  to  go  with  sails  and  oars. 
*  Memoirs  of  Petersburg  and  Moscow. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  75 

1  be  young  prince  wanted  instantly  to  make  a 
ti  >al  of  it  ;  but  it  was  first  to  be  repaired  and  rig- 
gti.  Brant,  the  ship-builder  abovementioned, 
wa<i  by  accident  found  out  at  INIoscow,  where  he 
lived  retired  ;  he  soon  put  the  boat  in  order,  and 
worked  her  upon  the  river  Yauza,  which  washes 
the  suburbs  of  the  town. 

Peter  caused  his  boat  to  be  removed  to  a  great 
lake,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  convent  of  the 
Trinity  ;  he  likewise  made  Brant  build  two  more 
frigates,  and  three  yachts,  and  piloted  them  him- 
self. A  considerable  time  afterwards,  viz.  in 
1694,  he  made  a  journey  to  Archangel,  and  having 
ordered  a  small  vessel  to  be  built  in  that  port,  by 
the  same  Brant,  he  embarked  therein  on  the 
Frozen  Sea,  which  no  sovereign  beside  himself 
had  ever  beheld.  On  this  occasion,  he  was  es- 
corted by  a  Dutch  man  of  war,  under  the  com- 
mand of  captain  Jolson,  and  attended  by  all  the 
merchant-vessels  then  in  the  port  of  Archangel. 
He  had  already  learned  the  manner  of  working 
a  ship  ;  and,  notwithstanding  the  pains  his  cour- 
tiers took  to  imitate  their  master,  he  was  the  only 
one  who  made  a  proficiency  in  it. 

He  found  it  no  less  diflScult  to  raise  a  well  dis- 
ciplined body  of  land  forces,  on  whom  he  could 
depend,  than  to  establish  a  navy.  His  first  essay 
in  navigation,  on  a  lake,  previous  to  his  journey  to 
Archangel,  was  looked  upon  only  as  the  amuse- 
ments of  a  young  prince  of  genius  ;  and  his  first 
attempt  to  form  a  body  of  disciplined  troops,  like- 
wise appeared  as  nothing  more  than  that  of  di- 
Tersion.  This  happened  during  the  regency  of 
the  princess  Sophia  ;  and,  had  he  been  suspected 
of  meaning  any  thing  serious  by  this  amusement, 
it  might  have  been  attended  with  fatal  conse- 
quences to  him. 

He  placed  his  confidence  in  a  foreigner,  the 


76  HISTORY  OF 

celebrated  Le  Fort,  of  a  noble  and  ancient  family 
in  Piedmont,  transplanted  near  two  centuries  ago 
to  Geneva,  where  they  have  filled  the  most  con- 
siderable posts  in  the  state.  He  was  intended 
to  have  been  brought  up  to  the  trade,  to  which 
the  town  is  indebted  for  the  figure  it  now  makes  ; 
having  formerly  been  known  only  as  the  seat  of 
religious  controversies. 

But  his  genius,  which  prompted  him  to  the 
greatest  undertakings,  engaged  him  to  quit  his 
father's  house  at  the  age  of  fourteen  ;  and  he 
served  four  months*  in  quality  of  a  cadet  in  the 
citadel  of  Marseilles ;  from  thence  he  went  to 
Holland,  where  he  served  some  time  as  a  volun- 
teer, and  was  wounded  at  the  siege  of  Grave,  a 
strong  fortified  town  on  the  jVIeuse,  which  the 
prince  of  Orange,  afterwards  king  of  England, 
retook  from  Lewis  XIV.  in  \69-i:.  After  this, 
led  by  hopes  of  preferment,  wherever  he  could 
find  it,  he  embarked  with  a  German  colonel, 
named  Verstin,  who  had  obtained  a  commission 
from  Peter's  father,  the  czar  Alexis,  to  raise  sol- 
diers in  the  Netherlands,  and  bring  them  to  Arch- 
angel. But,  when  he  arrived  at  that  port,  after 
a  most  fatiguing  and  dangerous  navigation,  the 
czar  Alexis  was  no  more  ;  the  government  wsa 
changed,  and  Russia  in  confusion.  The  governor 
of  Archangel  suffered  Verstin,  Le  Fort,  and  his 
whole  troop,  to  remain  a  long  time,  in  the  utmost 
poverty  and  distress,  and  even  threatened  to  send 
them  into  the  extremity  of  Siberia  ;  upon  which 

•  Thia  sliould  certainly  be  four  years ;  as  we  can 
hardly  suppose  a  boy  of  fourteen  j'ears  and  a  half,  would 
be  received  iuto  the  military  service  of  any  cou3tr3',  and 
much  less  by  the  Dutch  at  that  period  of  time,  when  they 
«tood  in  need  of  able  and  experienced  soldiers,  to  with- 
stand the  attacks  of  the  French,  who  breathed  DOthing 
less  than  the  utter  subversion  of  their  state. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  7*? 

every  mtin  shifted  for  himself.  Le  Fort,  in  want 
of  every  thing,  repaired  to  INIcscfw.  where  he 
waited  upon  the  Danish  resident,  named  De  Horn, 
who  made  him  his  secretary :  there  he  learned 
the  Russian  language,  and  some  time  afterwards 
found  means  to  be  introduced  to  the  czar  Peter  ; 
the  elder  brother,  Iwan,  not  being  a  person  for 
his  purpose.  Peter  was  taken  with  him,  and  im- 
mediately gave  him  a  company  of  foot.  Le  Fort 
had  seen  very  little  service,  he  knew  but  little 
of  letters,  not  having  studied  any  particular  art 
or  science ;  hut  he  had  seen  a  great  deal,  and 
had  a  talent  of  making  the  most  of  what  he  saw. 
Like  the  czar,  he  owed  every  thing  to  his  own 
genius  ;  he  understood  the  German  and  Dutch 
languages,  which  Peter  was  learning,  as  those 
of  two  nations  that  might  bt  of  service  in  his  de- 
signs. Every  thing  conspired  to  make  him  agree- 
able to  Peter,  to  %vhom  he  strictly  attached  him- 
self. From  being  the  companion  of  his  pleasures, 
he  became  his  favourite,  and  confirmed  himself 
in  that  station  by  his  abilities.  The  czar  made 
him  his  confidant  in  the  most  dangerous  design 
that  a  prince  of  that  country  could  possibly  form, 
namely,  that  of  putting  himself  in  a  condition  to 
be  able  one  day  to  break  the  seditious  and  bar- 
barous body  of  forces  called  the  strelitzes.  It 
had  cost  the  great  sultan  or  basha  Osman  his  life, 
for  attempting  to  disband  the  janissaries.  Peter, 
young  as  he  was,  went  to  work  in  a  much  abler 
manner  than  Osman. 

He  began  with  forming,  at  his  country-seat  at 
Preobrazineki,  a  company  of  fifty  of  his  youngest 
domestics  ;  and  some  young  gentlemen,  the  sons 
of  boyards,  were  chosen  for  their  officers  :  but, 
in  order  to  teach  these  young  noblemen  a  subor- 
dination, to  which  they  were  wholly  unaccus- 
Vimed,  he  made  them  pass  through  all  the  dif- 


78  HISTORY  OF 

ferent  military  degrees,  and  himself  set  them  the 
example,  by  serving  first  as  a  drum,  then  as  a 
private  soldier,  a  serjeant,  and  a  lieutenant  of 
the  company.  Nothing  was  ever  more  extraor- 
dinarv,  nor  more  useful,  than  this  conduct.  The 
Russians  had  hitherto  made  war  in  the  same  man- 
ner as  our  ancestors  at  the  time  of  the  feudal 
tenures,  when  the  unexperienced  nobles  took  the 
field  at  the  head  of  their  vassals,  undisciplined, 
and  ill  armed  :  a  barbarous  method,  sufficient  in- 
deed to  act  against  the  like  armies,  but  of  no  use 
against  regular  troops. 

This  company,  which  was  formed  wholly  by 
Peter  himself,  soon  increased  in  numbers,  and 
became  afterwards  the  regiment  of  Preobrazinski 
guards.  Another  regiment,  formed  on  the  same 
plan,  became  in  time  the  regiment  of  Semeni- 
oujiky  guards. 

The  czar  had  already  a  regiment  of  five  thou- 
sand men  that  could  be  depended  upon,  trained 
by  general  Gordon,  a  Scotchman,  and  composed 
almost  entirely  of  foreigners.  Le  Fort,  who  had 
borne  arms  but  a  short  tima,  but  whose  capacity 
was  equal  to  every  thing,  undertook  to  raise  a 
regiment  of  twelve  thousand  men,  which  he  ef- 
fected :  five  colonels  were  appointed  to  serve 
under  him,  and  he  saw  himself  on  a  sudden  ge- 
neral of  this  little  army,  which  had  been  raised, 
as  much  to  oppose  the  strelitzes,  as  the  enemies 
of  the  state. 

One  thing  worthy  of  being  remarked,*  and 
which  fully  confutes  the  hasty  error  of  those  who 
pretend  that  France  lost  very  few  of  its  inhabi- 
tants by  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantz,  is, 
that  one- third  of  his  army,  which  was  only  called 
a  regiment,  consisted  of  French  refugees.     L« 

•  General  Le  Fort'ii  MS& 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  79 

Fort  disciplined  his  new  troops,  as  if  he  had  been 
aJl  his  lifetime  a  soldier. 

Peter  was  desirous  of  seeing  one  of  those  ima- 
ges of  war,  the  mock  fights,  which  had  lately 
been  introduced  in  times  of  peace:  a  fort  was 
erected,  which  was  to  be  attacked  by  one  part  of 
his  new  troops,  and  defended  by  the  other.  The 
difference  between  this  fight,  and  others  of  the 
like  nature,  was,  that  instead  of  a  sham  engage- 
ment, there  was  a  real  one,  in  which  some  of  his 
men  were  slain,  and  a  great  many  wounded.* 
Le  Fort,  who  commanded  the  attack,  received  a 
considerable  wound.  These  bloody  sports  were 
intended  to  initiate  the  young  troops  into  the 
service  of  the  field  ;  but  it  required  much  labour, 
and  even  some  degree  of  sufferings  to  compass 
this  end. 

These  warlike  amusements  did  not  take  off  the 
czar's  attention  to  his  naval  project.  As  he  had 
made  Le  Fort  a  general  by  land,  notwithstand- 
ing his  having  never  borne  a  command  ;  he  now 
made  him  admiral,  though  he  had  never  had  the 
direction  of  a  ship,  but  he  knew  him  deserving 
both  of  the  one  and  the  other.  It  is  true,  that  he 
was  an  admiral  without  a  fleet,  and  a  general 
with  only  his  regiment  for  an  army. 

By  degrees  the  czar  reformed  that  great  abuse 
in  tlie  army,  viz.  the  independence  of  the  boy- 
ards,  who,  in  time  of  war,  used  to  bring  into  the 
field  a  multitude  of  their  vassals  and  peasants: 
this  was  exactly  tlie  ancient  government  of  the 
Franks,  Huns,  Goths,  and  Vandals,  who  indeed 
subdued  the  Roman  empire  in  its  state  of  de- 
cline, but  would  have  been  totally  destroyed,  had 
they  had  the  warlike  disciplined  legions  of  ancient 
Rome  to  encounter,  or  such  armies  as  are  now 
broughf.  into  the  field. 

•  General  Le  Fon'a  M9S. 


80  HISrORY  OF 

Admiral  Le  Fort  was  not  long,  however,  be- 
fore he  had  something  more  than  an  empty  title. 
He  employed  some  Dutchmen  and  Venetians 
iu  building,  a  number  of  barcolongos,  or  kind 
of  long  barks,  and  also  two  ships  of  about  thirty 
guns  each,  at  the  mouth  of  the  VVoroniiz,  which 
falls  into  the  Tanais,  or  Don  :  these  vessels  were 
to  fall  down  the  river,  and  keep  in  awe  the  Crini 
Tartars,  with  whom  hostilities  had  been  renewed. 

The  czar  was  now  to  determine  (in  1689^ 
against  which  of  the  following  powers  he  would 
declare  war,  whether  against  the  1  urks,  the 
Swedes,  or  the  Chinese.  Bat  here  it  will  be 
proper  to  premise  on  what  terms  he  then  stood 
with  China,  and  which  was  the  first  treaty  of 
peace  concluded  by  that  nation. 


CHAP.  VII. 

Congress  and  Treaty  with  the  Chinese.* 

'W/'E  must  set  out  by  forming  a  proper  idea  of 
the  limits  of  the  Chinese  and  Russian  em- 
pires at  this  period.  When  we  leave  Siberia, 
properly  so  called,  and  also  far  behind  us  to  the 
south,  a  hundred  hordes  of  Tartars,  with  white 
and  black  Calmucks,  and  Mahometan  and  Pagan 
Monguls,  we  come  to  the  130th  degree  of  longi- 
tude, and  the  52d  of  latitude  upon  the  river 
Amur.t  To  the  northward  is  a  great  chain  of 
mountains,  that  stretches  as  far  as  the  Frozen 

•  Extracted  from  memoirs  sent  from  China  ;  also  from 
Petersburg,  and  from  letters  published  in  Du  Halde's 
History  of  China. 

+  A  famous  and  considerable  river  of  the  Asiatic  part 
of  the  empire  of  Russia,  which  falls  into  the  eastern 
ocean.       It  was  formerly  called  Charan  Mi»ran;  but  at 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  81 

Sea,  beyond  the  |)oIar  circle.  This  river,  which 
runs  upwarik  of  five  hundred  leagues,*  through 
Siberia  ard  Chinese  Tartary,  falls,  after  many 
windings,  into  the  sea  of  Kamtshalka.  It  is  af- 
nrmed  for  a  truth,  that  at  its  mouth,  which  opens 
with  this  sea,  there  is  sometimes  caught  a  mon- 
Ftrous  fish,  much  larger  than  the  hippopotamus 
of  the  Nile,  and  that  the  tooth  thereof  is  the 
finest  ivory.  It  is  furthermore  said,  that  this 
ivory  was  formerly  an  object  of  trade  ;  that 
they  used  to  convey  it  through  Siberia,  which  is 
the  reason  why  several  pieces  of  it  are  still  found 
under  the  ground  in  that  country.  This  is  the 
most  probable  account  of  the  fossil  ivory,  of 
which  we  have  elsewhere  spoken  ;  for  it  appears 
highly  chimerical  to  pretend,  that  there  were 
formerly  elephants  in  Siberia. 

This  Amur  is  likewise  called  the  Black  River 
by  the  Mantechoux  Tartars,  and  the  Dragon's 
River  by  the  Chinese. 

It  was  in  these  countries,  so  long  unknown, 
that  the  Russians  and  Chinese  contested  the  li- 
mits of  their  empires. t  Ihe  Russians  had  some 
forts  on  the  river  Amur,  about  three  hundred 
leagues  from  the  great  wall.  Many  hostilities 
had  arisen  between  these  two  nations  on  account 
of  these  forts :  at  length  both  began  to  under- 
stand their  interests  better  ;  the  emperor  Camhi 
preferred  peace  and  commerce  to  an  unprofitable 

present  the  Chinese  and  Mauschurs  give  it  the  name  of 
Sagalin  Ula.  It  also  bears  the  several  appellations  of  Ja- 
mur,  Onon,  llelonfr,  Kiang.  and  Skilka.  It  is  formed  by 
the  junction  of  the  rivers  Sckilk  and  Argun,  and  is  navi- 
gable to  the  sea. 

•  Busching,  the  famous  geograplier,  says,  that  its  whole 

length  is  no  more  than  fonr  hundred  miles,  so  that  there 

must  be  a  verj'  great  error  in  one  or  other  of  these  anthora, 

♦    Memoirs  of  the  Jesuits  Pere^ra  and  Gerbillon. 

1)52 


82  HISTORY  OF 

•war,  and  seut  several  ambassadors  to  Niptchou. 
one  of  those  settlements.  J'he  ambassadors  had 
ten  thousand  men  in  their  retinue,  iucluding 
their  escort;  this  was  Asiatic  pomp;  but  what 
is  very  remarkable,  is,  that  there  was  not  an  ex- 
ample in  the  annals  of  the  empire,  of  an  embassy 
being  sent  to  another  potentate  ;  and  what  is 
still  more  singular,  that  the  Chinese  had  never 
concluded  a  treaty  of  peace  since  the  foundation 
of  their  monarchy.  Though  twice  conquered  by 
the  Tartars,  who  attacked  and  subjected  them, 
they  never  made  war  upon  any  people,  except- 
ing a  few  hordes  that  were  quickly  subdued,  or  as 
quickly  left  to  themselves,  without  any  treaty. 
So  that  this  nation,  so  renowned  for  morality, 
knew  nothing  of  what  we  call  the  '  Law  of  na- 
tions ;'  that  is  to  say,  of  those  vague  rules  of 
war  and  peace,  of  the  privileges  of  foreign  mi- 
nisters, of  the  formalities  of  treaties,  nor  of  the 
obligations  resulting  from  thence,  nor  of  the 
disputes  concerning  precedency  and  point  of 
honour. 

But  in  what  language  were  the  Chinese  to 
negotiate  with  the  Russians,  in  the  midst  of  de- 
serts ?  This  difl5culty  was  removed  by  two  Jesuits, 
the  one  a  Portuguese,  named  Pereira,  the  other  a 
Frenchman,  whose  name  was  Gerbillon  ;  they  set 
out  from  Pekin  with  the  Chinese  ambassadors, 
and  were  themselves  the  real  negotiators.  They 
conferred  in  Latin  with  a  German  belonging  to 
the  Russian  embassy,  who  understood  this  lan- 
guage. The  chief  of  that  embassy  was  Golowin, 
governor  of  Siberia,  who  displayed  a  greater 
magnificence  than  the  Chinese  themselves,  and 
thereby  gave  a  high  idea  of  the  Russian  empire, 
to  a  peo])le  who  thought  themselves  the  only 
]X)werful  nation  under  the  sun. 

The  two  Jesuits  settled  the  limits  of  both  era- 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  83 

pires  at  the  river  Kerbechi,  near  the  spot  where 
the  treaty  v.as  concluded.  xAll  the  country,  to  the 
southward  of  this  line  of  partition,  was  adjudged 
to  the  Chinese,  and  the  north  to  the  Russians, 
who  only  lost  a  small  fort  which  was  found  to 
have  been  built  beyond  the  limits :  a  peace  was 
agreed  to,  and  after  some  few  altercations,  both 
parties  swore  to  observe  it.  in  the  name  of  the 
same  God  ;  *  and  in  these  terms,  '  If  any  of  us 
shall  entertain  the  least  thought  of  kindling  anew 
the  flames  of  war.  we  beseech  the  supreme  Lord 
of  all  things,  and  who  knows  all  hearts,  to  punish 
the  traitor  with  sudden  death.* 

From  this  form  o*"  treaty,  used  alike  by  Chinese 
and  Christians,  we  may  infer  two  important 
truths  :  the  first,  that  the  Chinese  government  is 
neither  atheistical  nor  idolatrous,  as  has  been  so 
frequently  and  falsely  charged  upon  it,  by  con- 
tradictory imputations.  Secondly,  that  all  na- 
tions, who  cultivate  the  gift  of  reason  and  under- 
standing, do,  in  effect,  acknowledge  the  same 
God,  notwithstanding  the  particular  deviations 
of  that  reason,  through  the  want  of  being  properly 
instructed. 

The  treaty  was  drawn  up  in  Latin,  and  two 
copies  v/ere  made  of  it.  The  Russian  ambas- 
sadors set  their  names  the  first  to  the  copy  that 
remained  in  their  possession,  and  the  Chinese 
also  signed  theirs  the  first,  agreeable  to  the  cus- 
tom observed  by  European  nations,  when  two 
equal  powers  conclude  a  treaty  with  each  other. 
On  this  occvtion  was  observed  another  custom 
belonging  to  tlie  Asiatic  nations,  and  which  was 
indeed,  that  of  the  earliest  ages.  The  treaty 
was  engraven  on  two  large  marble  pillars,  erected 
on  the  spot,  to  determine  the  boundaries  of  the 
two  empires. 

*  J689,  Sept.  8.  new  style.     Memoirs  of  Cbiso. 


84  HISTORY  OF 

Three  years  after  this,  the  czar  sent  Isbrand 
Ides,  a  Dane,  his  ambassador  to  China  ;  and  the 
commerce  he  then  estaolished  between  the  two 
nations,  continued  with  advantage  to  each,  till 
the  rupture  between  them  in  the  year  172  J  ;  but 
since  this  short  interruption,  it  has  been  revived 
•vith  redoubled  vigour. 


CHAP.  VIII. 


Expedition  to  the  Palus  Maeotis  ;  conquest  of  Azoph.— 
The  czar  sends  young  gentlemen  into  foreign  countries 
for  improvement. 
TT  was  not  so  easy  to  have  peace  with  the  Turks, 
and  indeed,  the  time  seemed  come  for  the 
Russians  to  rise  upon  their  ruins.  The  republic 
of  Venice,  that  had  long  groaned  under  their 
yoke,  began  now  to  rouse  itself.  The  Doge 
^lorosini,  the  same  who  had  surrendered  Candy 
to  the  Turks,  afterwards  took  from  them  the 
Peloponnesus,  which  conquest  got  him  the  title 
of  Peloponnesian,  an  honour  which  revived  the 
memory  of  the  Roman  republic.  Leopold,  em.- 
peror  of  Germany,  had  proved  successful  against 
the  Ottoman  power  in  Hungary  ;  and  the  Poles 
made  shift  to  check  the  incursions  of  the  Crim 
Tartars. 

Peter  took  advantage  of  these  circumstances, 
to  discipline  his  troops,  and  to  procure  himselt 
the  empire  of  the  Black  Sea.  General  Gurdon 
marched  along  the  Tanais,  towards  Azoph,  with 
his  numerous  regiment  of  five  thousand  men, 
followed  by  general  Le  Fort,  with  his  regiment 
of  twelve  thousand  ;  by  a  body  of  Strelitzes,  under 
the  command  of  Sheremeto  and  Schein,  na- 
tives of  Prussia  ;  by  a  body  of  Cossacks,  and  by 
a  large  train  of  artillery  :  in  a  word,  every  thing 
was  ready  for  this  expedition. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  85 

1694.]  This  grand  army  began  its  march  under 
the  command  of  marshal  Shereraeto,  or  Sche- 
remejtofF,  in  the  beginning  of  the  summer  of  1695, 
to  attack  the  town  of  Azoph,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Tanais,  and  at  the  extremity  of  the  Palus  Maiotis, 
now  called  the  Zaback  Sea.  The  czrir  himself 
was  with  the  army,  but  only  in  quality  of  a  vo- 
lunteer, being  determined  to  learn,  some  time 
before  he  took  upon  him  to  command.  During 
their  march,  they  stormed  two  forts  which  the 
Turks  had  built  on  the  banks  of  the  river. 

This  expedition  was  attended  with  some  con- 
siderable difficulties.  The  place  was  well  for- 
tified, and  defended  by  a  numerous  garrison.  A 
number  of  barcolongos,  resembling  the  Turkish 
saicks,  and  built  by  Venetians,  with  two  small 
Dutch  ships  of  war,  that  were  to  sail  out  of  the 
Woronitz,  could  not  be  got  ready  soon  enough  to 
enter  the  sea  of  Azoph.  All  beginnings  meet 
with  obstacles.  The  Russianshad  never  yet  made 
a  regular  siege  ;  and  the  first  attempt  did  not 
meet  with  all  the  success  that  could  be  desired. 

One  .Tacob,  a  native  of  Dantzic.  had  the  direc- 
tion of  the  artillery,  under  the  command  of  general 
Schein  ;  for  as  yet  they  had  none  but  foreign 
officers  belonging  to  the  train,  and  none  but 
foreign  engineers  and  pilots,  ibis  Jacob  had 
been  condemned  to  the  bastinade,  or  knout,  by 
.Schein,  the  Russian  general.  At  that  time 
rigorous  discipline  was  thought  to  be  the  only 
method  of  strengthening  command  ;  and  the  Rus- 
sians quietly  submitted  to  it,  notwithstanding 
their  natural  bent  to  sedition  ;  and  after  the  pu- 
nishment, did  their  duty  as  usual.  But  the  Dane 
thought  in  a  diff'erent  manner,  and  resolved  to 
be  revenged  for  the  treatment  he  had  received, 
and  thereupon  nailed  up  the  cannon,  deserted  to 
the  Turks,    turned    Mahometan,    and    defended 


86  HISTORY  OF 

Azoph,  with  great  success,  against  his  formei 
masters.  This  instance  shews,  that  the  lenity 
which  is  now  practi-ed  in  Russia,  is  much  pre- 
ferable to  the  former  severities ;  and  is  better 
calculated  to  retain  those  in  their  duty,  who  by 
a  good  education,  have  a  proper  sense  of  honour. 
It  was  absolutely  necessary  at  that  time,  to  use 
the  utmost  rigour  towards  the  common  people; 
but  since  their  manners  have  been  changed,  the 
empress  Elizabeth  ^  has  completed,  by  clemency, 
the  work  her  father  begun,  by  the  authority  of 
the  laws.  This  lenity  has  even  been  carried,  by 
this  princess,  to  a  degree  unexampled,  in  the 
history  of  any  nation.  She  has  promised,  that, 
during  her  reign,  no  person  shall  be  punished 
with  death,  and  she  has  kept  her  word.  She  is 
the  first  sovereign  who  ever  shewed  so  much 
regard  for  the  lives  of  men.  By  an  institution, 
equally  prudent  and  humane,  malefactors  are 
now  condemned  to  serve  in  the  mines,  and  other 
public  works  :  by  which  means  their  very  punish- 
ments prove  of  service  to  the  state.  In  othei 
countries,  they  know  only  how  to  put  a  criminal 
to  death,  with  all  the  apparatus  of  execution, 
without  being  able  to  prevent  the  perpetration 
of  crimes.  The  apprehensioji  of  death  makes, 
perhaps,  less  impression  on  those  miscreants, 
who  are,  for  the  most  part,  bred  up  in  idleness, 
than  the  fear  of  punishment  and  hard  labour, 
renewed  every  day. 

•  The  present  reigning  empress  Cathariue  seems  even 
to  exceed  her  aunt  in  lenity,  which  together  with  the 
saperior  qualifications  of  this  princess,  affords  her  people 
the  most  happy  presage  of  a  glorious  xeiga  ;  and  it  is  not 
without  reason,  that  the  most  sensible  amongst  them  flat- 
ter themselves  with  the  hope,  that  under  this  augnst 
princess,  the  Russian  empire  will  wrive  at  its  highest 
ptniMcle  of  glory . 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  87 

To  return  to  the  siege  of  Azoph,  which  place 
Was  now  defended  by  the  same  person  who  had 
before  directed  the  attacks  against  it ;  the  Rus- 
sians, in  vain,  attempted  to  take  it  by  storm; 
and  after  losing  a  great  number  of  men,  were 
obliged  to  raise  the  siege. 

Perseverance  in  his  undertakings,  was  the 
distinguishing  character  of  Peter  the  Great.  In 
the  spring  of  1696,  he  brought  a  still  more  con- 
siderable army  before  Azoph.  About  this  time 
died  czar  John,  bis  brother,  who  though  he  had 
not,  while  living,  been  the  least  curb  to  Peter's 
authority,  having  enjoyed  only  the  bare  title  of 
czar,  yet  he  had  been  some  restraint  upon  him 
in  regard  to  appearances.  The  money  which  had 
been  appropriated  to  the  support  of  John's  dig- 
nity and  household,  were  now  applied  to  the 
maintenance  of  the  army.  This  proved  no  small 
help  to  a  government,  whose  revenues  were  not 
near  so  great  as  they  are  at  present.  Peter  wrote 
to  the  emperor  Leopold,  to  the  stales-general, 
and  to  the  elector  of  Brandenburg,  to  obtain  engi- 
neers, gunners,  and  seamen.  He  likewise  took 
some  Calmucks  into  his  pay,  whose  light  horse 
are  very  useful  against  the  Grim  Tartars. 

The  most  agreeable  of  the  czar's  successes, 
was  that  of  his  little  fleet,  which  was  at  length 
completed,  and  well  commanded.  It  defeated 
the  Turkish  saicks,  sent  from  Constantinople, 
and  took  some  of  them.  The  siege  was  carried  on 
regularly  by  trenches,  but  not  altogether  in  our 
method ;  the  renches  being  three  times  deeper 
than  ours,  with  parapets  as  high  as  rampart:;.  At 
length  the  garrison  surrendered,  the  28th  of  July, 
1696.  N.S.  without  being  allowed  the  honours  of 
war,  or  to  carry  out  with  them  either  arms  or 
ammunition  :  they  were  likewise  obliged  to  de- 
liver up  the  renegado,  Jacob,  to  the  conquerors. 


68  HISTORY  OF 

The  czar  immediately  set  about  fortifying 
Azoph,  built  strong  forts  to  protect  it,  and  made 
a  harbour  capable  of  holding  large  vessels,  with 
a  design  to  make  himself  master  of  the  Streights 
of  Caffa,  or  the  Cimmerian  Bosphorus,  which 
commands  the  entrance  into  the  Pontus  Euxinus, 
or  Black  Sea ;  places  famous  in  ancient  times, 
by  the  naval  armaments  of  Mithridates.  He 
left  thirty  two  armed  saicks  before  Azoph,*  and 
made  all  the  necessary  preparations  for  fitting 
out  a  fleet  against  the  Turks,  to  consist  of  nine 
ships  of  sixty  guns,  and  of  forty-one,  from  thirty 
to  fifty.  He  obliged  his  principal  nobles,  and 
the  richer  merchants,  to  contribute  towards  this 
armament ;  and  thinking  that  the  estates  of  the 
clergy  ought  to  help  towards  the  common  cause 
he  obliged  the  patriarch,  the  bishops,  and  prin- 
cipal clergy,  to  pay  down  a  sum  of  ready  money  to 
forward  this  expedition,  in  honour  of  their  coun- 
try, arid  the  advantage  of  the  Christian  faith. 
The  Cossacks  were  employed  in  building  a  num- 
ber of  those  light  boats  in  use  amongst  them, 
and  which  were  excellent  for  the  purpose  of 
cruizing  on  the  coast  of  Crim  Tartary.  The  Ot- 
toman empire  was  alarmed  at  this  powerful  ar- 
mament ;  the  first  that  had  ever  been  attempted 
on  the  Palus  Micotis.  The  czar's  scheme  was  to 
drive  the  Turks  and  the  Tartars  for  ever  out  of 
the  Taurica  Chersonesus,  and  afterwards  to  es- 
tablish a  free  and  easy  commerce  with  Persia 
through  Georgia.  This  is  the  very  trade  which 
the  Greeks  formerly  carried  on  to  Colchos,  and 
to  this  peninsula  of  Crim  Tartary,  which  Peter 
now  seemed  on  the  point  of  conquering. 

Having  subdued  the  Turks  and  the  Tartars, 
he  was  willing  to  accustom  his  people  to  splendid 

•  Le  Fort's  Memoirs. 


PETER  T'iE  GREAT.  89 

shows  as  well  as  to  military  labour.  He  made  his 
army  to  enter  into  Moscow,  under  triumphal 
arches,  in  the  midst  of  superb  fire-works,  and 
every  thing  that  could  add  to  the  lustre  of  the 
festival.  The  soldiers  who  had  fought  on  board 
the  Venetian  saicks  against  the  Turks,  and  who 
were  a  distinct  corps  of  themselves,  marched  first. 
Marshal  Sheremeto,  the  general  Gordons  and 
Schein,  admiral  Le  Fort,  and  the  other  general 
officers,  all  took  the  precedence  of  their  monarch 
in  this  processiim,  who  declared  he  had  no  rank 
in  the  army,  being  desirous  to  convince  the  nobi- 
lity, by  his  example,  that  the  only  way  to  acquire 
military  preferment,  was  to  deserve  it.* 

This  triumphal  entry  seemed  somewhat  a-kin 
to  those  of  the  ancient  Romans,  in  which  the 
conquerors  were  wont  to  expose  the  prisoners 
they  ii ad  taken,  to  public  view,  and  sometimes 
put  them  to  death :  in  like  manner,  the  slaves, 
taken  in  this  expedition,  follow  the  army ;  and 
the  deserter  Jacob,  who  had  betrayed  them,  was 
drawn  in  an  open  cart,  in  which  was  a  gibbet,  to 
which  his  body  was  fastened  after  he  had  been 
broke  upon  the  wheel. 

On  this  occasion  was  struck  the  first  medal 
in  Russia,  with  this  remarkable  legend,  in  the 

*  It  is  in  consequence  of  this  glorious  and  equitable 
distinction,  that  at  this  day  we  find  nobility  gives  no 
precedence  iu  the  court  of  Russia  ;  nor  can  the  son  of 
a  prince  appear  there  in  an3'  other  rank,  than  that  which 
his  situation  in  tlic  army  gives  him ;  while  a  private 
citizen,  who  by  his  merit  has  raiswd  himself  above  his 
condition,  receives  all  tlic  honours  due  to  his  post ;  or 
more  properly  speaking,  to  the  merit  which  obtained 
him  that  post.  A  reputation  of  this  kind  would,  me- 
thinks,  be  attended  with  preat  a(l\-antage8,  both  in  Eng. 
land  and  France,  as  it  would  be  a  means  to  raise  in  the 
youth  01  all  ranks,  a  virtuous  and  noble  emulation. 


90  HISTORY  OF 

language  of  the  country.  '  Peter  the  First, 
august  emperor  of  Muscovy.'  Oh  the  reverse 
was  the  city  of  Azoph,  with  these  words  ;  '  Vic- 
torious by  Fire  and  Water.' 

Peter  felt  a  sensible  concern  in  the  midst  of 
all  these  successes,  that  his  ships  and  gallies  in 
the  sea  of  Azoph,  had  been  built  entirely  by  the 
hands  of  foreigners;  and  wished  as  earnestly  to 
have  a  harbour  in  the  Baltic  Sea,  as  upon  the 
Pontus  Euxinus. 

Accordingly,  in  the  month  of  March  1677,  he 
sent  threescore  young  Russians  of  Le  Fort's 
regiment,  into  Italy,  most  of  them  to  Venice,  and 
the  rest  to  Leghorn,  to  instruct  themselves  in  the 
naval  art,  and  the  manoer  of  constructing  gul- 
lies. He  likewise  sent  forty  others  into  Holland,* 
to  learn  the  metbcd  <;f  building  and  working 
large  ships  :  and  others  likewise  into  Germany, 
to  serve  in  the  land  forces,  and  instruct  them- 
selves in  the  military  discipline  of  that  nation. 
At  length  he  took  a  resolution  to  absent  himself 
for  a  few  years  from  his  own  dominions,  in  order 
to  learn  how  to  govern  them  tbe  better.  He  had 
an  irresistible  inclination  to  improve  himself  by 
his  own  observation  and  practice  in  the  know- 
ledge of  naval  affairs,  and  of  the  several  arts 
which  he  was  so  desirous  to  establish  in  liis  iwu 
country.  He  proposed  to  travel  incognito  through 
Denmark,  Brandenburg,  Holland,  Vienna,  Ve- 
nice, and  Rome.  France  and  Spain  were  the 
only  countries  he  did  not  take  into  his  plan ; 
Spain,  because  the  arts  he  was  in  quest  of,  were 
too  much  neglected  there  ;  and  France,  because 
in  that  kingdom  they  reigned  with  too  much 
ostentation,  and  that  the  parade  and  state  of 
Lewis  XIV.  which  had  disgusted  so  many 
rrowne.d  heads,  ill  agreed  with  the  private  man- 
•  General's  Le  Fort's  MSS. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  91 

ner  in  which  he  proposed  lo  travel.  Moreover,  he 
was  in  alliance  with  most  of  the  powers,  whose 
dominions  he  intended  to  visit,  except  those 
of  France  and  Rome.  He  likewise  remembered, 
with  some  degree  of  resentment,  the  little  respect 
shewn  by  Lewis  XIV.  to  his  embassy  in  1687, 
which  had  proved  more  famous  than  successful ; 
and  lastly  he  already  began  to  espouse  the  cause 
of  Augustus,  elector  of  Saxony,  with  whom  the 
prince  of  Conti  had  lately  entered  into  a  compe- 
tition for  the  crown  of  Poland. 


CHAP.  IX. 
Travels  of  Peter  the  Great. 


1697  H  A^'^ING  thus  determined  to  visit  the 
several  countries  and  courts  above- 
mentioned  in  a  private  character,  he  put  himself 
into  the  retinue  of  three  ambassadors,  in  the 
same  manner  as  he  had  before  mingled  in  the 
train  of  his  generals  at  his  triumphant  entry 
into  Moscow. 

•  The  three  ambassadors  were,  general  Le 
Fort,  the  boyard  Alexis  Gollgwin,  commissary- 
general  of  lyar,  and  governor  of  Siberia,  the  same 
who  signed  the  perpetual  treaty  of  peace  with  the 
plenipotentiaries  of  China,  on  the  frontiers  ot 
that  empire  ;  and  VVonitzin,  diak,  or  secretary 
of  state,  who  had  been  long  employed  in  foreign 
courts.  Four  principal  secretaries,  twelve  gen- 
tlemen, two  pages  fur  each  ambassador,  a  com- 
pany of  fifty  guards,  with  their  oflScers,  all  of  the 
regiment  of  Preobrazinski,  composed  the  chief 
retinue  of  this  embassy,  which  consisted  in  the 

•  The  Petersburg  Memoirs,  and  Memoirs  of  Le  Fort. 


952  HISTORY  OF 

whole  of  two  hundred  persons  ;  and  the  czar,  re- 
serving to  himself  only  one  valet  de  cbambre,  a 
servant  in  livery,  and  a  dwarf,  mingled  with  the 
crowd.  It  was  a  thing  unparalleled  in  history, 
for  a  king  of  five-and- twenty  years  of  age,  to  quit 
his  dominions,  in  order  to  learn  the  art  of  go- 
verning. His  victory  over  the  Turks  and  Tartars, 
the  splendour  of  his  triumphant  entry  into 
Moscow,  the  number  of  foreign  troops  attached 
to  his  service,  the  death  of  his  brother  John,  his 
co-partner  in  the  empire,  and  the  confinement  of 
the  princess  Sophia  to  a  cloister,  and  above  all 
the  universal  respect  shewn  to  his  person,  seemed 
to  assure  him  the  tranquillity  of  his  kingdom 
during  his  absence.  He  intrusted  the  regency 
in  the  hands  of  the  boyard  Strechnef,  and  the 
knez  or  prince  Romadonowski,  who  were  to  de- 
liberate with  the  rest  of  the  boyards  in  cases  of 
importance. 

Two  troops  raised  by  general  Gordon  remained 
behind  in  Moscow,  to  keep  every  thing  quiet  in 
that  capital.  Those  strelitzes,  who  were  thought 
likely  to  create  a  disturbance,  were  distributed 
in  the  frontiers  of  Crim  Tartary,  to  preserve  the 
conquest  of  Azoph,  and  to  check  the  incursions 
of  the  Tartars.  Having  provided  against  every 
incident,  he  gav^afree  scope  to  his  passion  and 
desire  of  improvement. 

As  this  journey  proved  the  cause,  or  at  least 
the  pretext,  of  the  bloody  war,  which  so  long; 
traversed,  but  in  the  end  promoted,  all  the  de- 
signs of  the  czar ;  which  drove  Augustus,  king 
of  Poland,  from  the  throne  ;  placed  that  crown 
on  the  head  of  Stanislaus,  and  then  stript  him  of 
it  ;  which  made  Charles  XII.  king  of  Sweden, 
the  first  of  conquerors  for  nine  years,  and  the 
most  unfortunate  of  kines  for  nine  more  ;  it  is 
Dficessary,  in  order  to  enter  into  a  detail  of  these 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  ^3 

«Tent8,  to  take  a  \  iew  of  the  state  of  Europe  at 
that  time. 

Sultan  Mustapba  II.  sat  at  that  time  on  the 
Ottoman  throne  ;  the  weakness  of  whose  admi- 
nistration would  not  permit  him  to  make  any 
great  eflforts,  either  against  Leopold,  emperor  of 
Germany,  whose  arms  were  successful  in  Hun- 
gary, nor  against  the  czar,  who  had  lately  taken 
Azoph  from  him,  and  threatened  to  make  him- 
self master  of  the  Pontus  Euxinus  ;  nor  even 
against  the  Venetians,  who  had  made  themselves 
masters  of  all  the  Peloponnesus. 

John  Sobieski,  king  of  Poland,  for  ever  famous 
by  the  victory  of  Chocksim,  and  the  deliverance 
of  Vienna,  died  the  17th  of  June,  1696,  and  the 
possession  of  that  crown  was  in  dispute  between 
Augustus,  elector  of  Saxony,  who  obtained  it, 
and  Armond,  prince  of  Conti,  who  had  only  the 
honour  of  being  elected. 

1697.]  Sweden  had  lately  lost,  but  without  re- 
gret, Charles  XI.  her  sovereign,  who  was  the 
first  king  who  had  ever  been  really  absolute  in 
that  country,  and  who  was  the  father  of  a  prince 
still  more  so,  and  with  whom  all  despotic  power 
ceased.  He  leftthecrown  to  his  son  Charles  XII. 
a  youth  of  only  fifteen  years  of  age.  This  was 
in  all  appearance  a  conjuncture  the  most  fa- 
vourable for  the  czar's  design  ;  he  had  it  in  his 
power  to  extend  his  dominions  on  the  Gulf  of 
Finland,  and  on  the  side  of  Livonia.  But  he  did 
not  think  it  enough  to  harass  the  Turks  on  the 
Black  Sea  ;  the  settlements  on  the  Palus  Mjeotis, 
and  the  borders  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  were  not 
suflicient  to  answer  his  schemes  of  navigation, 
commerce,  and  power.  Besides,  glory,  which  -js 
the  darling  object  of  every  reformer,  was  to  be 
found  neither  in  Persia,  nor  in  Turkey,  but  in 
our  parts  of  Europe,  where   great  talents  are 


94  HISTORY  OF 

rendered  immortal.  In  a  word,  Peter  did  not 
aim  at  introducing  either  the  Persian  or  Turkish 
manners  among  his  subjects. 

Germany,  then  at  war  both  with  the  Turks 
and  with  the  French,  and  united  with  Spain, 
England,  and  Holland,  against  the  single  power 
of  Lewis  XIV.  was  on  the  point  of  concluding 
peace,  and  the  plenipotentiaries  were  already 
met  at  the  castle  of  Ryswick,  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  Hague. 

It  was  during  this  situation  of  affairs,  that  Peter 
and  his  ambassador  began  their  journey  in  the 
month  of  April,  1697,  by  the  way  of  Great  Noto- 
gorod  :  from  thence  they  travelled  through  Es- 
thonia  and  Livonia,  provinces  formerly  disputed, 
by  the  Russians,  Swedes,  and  Poles,  and  which 
the  Swedes  at  last  acquired  by  superiority  of  arms. 

The  fertility  of  Livonia,  and  the  situation  of  its 
capital,  Riga,  were  temptations  to  the  czar,  to 
possess  himself  of  that  country.  He  expressed  a 
curiosity  to  see  the  fortifications  of  the  citadel. 
But  count  D'Alberg,  governor  of  Riga,  taking 
umbrage  at  this  request,  refused  him  the  satisfac- 
tion he  desired,  and  affected  to  treat  the  embassy 
with  contempt.  This  behaviour  did  not  at  afl 
contribute  to  cool  the  inclination  the  czar  might 
have,  to  make  himself  one  day  master  of  those 
provinces. 

From  Livonia  they  proceeded  to  Brandenburg- 
Pnissia,  part  of  which  had  been  inhabited  by  the 
ancient  Vandals ;  Polish  Prussia  had  been  in- 
cluded in  European  Sarmatia.  Brandenburg- 
Prussia  was  a  poor  country  and  badly  peopled  ; 
but  its  elector,  who  afterwards  took  the  name  of 
king,  displayed  a  magnificence  on  this  occasion, 
equally  new  and  destructive  to  his  dominions. 
He  piqued  himself  upon  receiving  this  embassy 
iu  his  city  of  Konigsberg,  with  all  the  pomp  of 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  95 

royalty.  Tte  most  sumptuous  presents  were  made 
on  both  sides.  The  contrast  between  the  French 
dress  which  the  court  of  Berlin  affected,  and  the 
Jong  Asiatic  robes  of  the  Russians,  with  their 
caps  buttoned  up  with  pearls  and  diamonds,  and 
their  scimitars  hanging  at  their  belts,  produced  a 
singular  effect.  The  czar  was  dressed  after  the 
German  fashion.  The  prince  of  Georgia,  who 
accompanied  him,  was  clad  in  a  Persian  habit, 
which  displayed  a  different  magnificence.  This 
is  the  same  who  was  taken  prisoner  afterwards 
at  the  battle  of  Narva,  and  died  in  Sweden. 

Peter  despised  all  thi?;  ostentation  ;  it  was  to 
have  been  wished  that  he  had  shewn  an  equal 
contempt  for  the  pleasures  of  the  table,  in  which 
the  Germans,  at  that  time,  placed  their  chiefest 
glory.  It  was  at  one  of  those  entertainments,* 
then  too  much  in  fashion,  and  which  are  alike 
fatal  to  health  and  morality,  that  he  drew  his 
aword  upon  his  favourite,  Le  Fort ;  but  he  ex- 
pressed as  much  contrition  for  this  s^udden  sally 
of  passion,  as  Alexander  did  for  the  murder  of 
Clytus  ;  he  asked  pardon  of  Le  Fort,  saying,  that 
he  wanted  to  reform  his  subjects,  and  could  not 
yet  reform  himself.  General  Le  Fort,  in  his 
manuscript  praises  the  czar  more  for  this  good- 
ness of  heart,  than  he  blames  him  for  his  excess 
of  passion. 

The  ambassadors  then  went  through  Pomerania 
and  Berlin  ;  and,  from  thence,  one  part  took  its 
way  through  Magdeburg,  and  the  other  by  Ham- 
burg, a  city  which  already  began  to  be  consider- 
able by  its  extensive  commerce,  but  not  so  rich 
and  populous  as  it  has  become  since.  From  thence 
they  directed  their  route  towards  Minden,  crossed 
Westphalia,  and  at  length,  by  the  way  of  CIev«8, 
arrived  at  Amsterdam. 

*  Le  Fort's  MS,  memoirs. 


96  HISTORY  OF 

The  czar  reached  this  city  fifteen  days  before 
the  ambassadors.  At  liis  first  coming,  he  .odged 
in  a  house  belonging  to  the  East  India  company  ; 
but  soon  afterwards  he  took  a  small  apartment 
in  the  dock-yard,  belonging  to  the  admiralty.  He 
then  put  on  the  habit  of  a  Dutch  skipper,  and  in 
that  dress  went  to  the  village  of  Saardam,  a  place 
where  a  great  many  more  ships  were  built  at  that 
times,  than  at  present.  This  village  is  as  large, 
as  populous,  and  as  rich,  and  much  neater,  than 
many  opulent  towns.  The  czar  greatly  admired 
the  multitude  of  people  who  were  constantly  em- 
ployed there,  the  order  and  regularity  of  their 
times  of  working,  the  prodigious  dispatch  with 
•which  thev  built  and  fitted  out  ships,  the  incre- 
dible number  of  warehouses,  and  machines,  for 
the  greater  ease  and  security  of  labour.  The  czar 
began  with  purchasing  a  bark,  to  which  he  made 
a  mast  with  his  own  hands  ;  after  that,  he  worked 
upon  all  the  diflferent  parts  in  the  construction  of 
a  vessel,  living  in  the  same  manner  as  the  work- 
men at  Saardam,  dressing  and  eating  the  same 
as  them,  and  working  in  the  forges,  the  rope- 
walks,  and  in  the  several  mills,  which  are  in 
prodigious  numbers  in  that  village,  for  sawing 
timber,  extracting  oil,  making  paper,  and  wire- 
drawing. He  caused  himself  to  be  enrolled  in 
the  list  of  carpenters,  hv  the  name  of  Peter 
Michaelhofi^,  and  was  commonly  called  Peter 
Bas,  or  Master  Peter :  the  workmen  were  at 
first  confounded  at  having  a  crowned  head  for  a 
fellow-labourer,  but  soon  became  familiarized  to 
the  sight. 

While  he  was  thus  handling  the  compass  and 
the  a,ie  at  Saardam,  a  confirmation  was  brought 
bim  of  the  division  in  Poland,  and  of  the  double 
nomination  of  the  elector  Augustus,  and  the 
prince  of   Conti.      The  carpenter   of  Saardam 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  97 

immediately  promised  king  Augustus  to  assist 
him  with  thirty  thousand  men  ;  and,  from  his 
work-loft,  issued  out  orders  to  his  army  that  was 
assembled  in  the  Ukraine  against  the  Turks. 

11th  Aug.  1697.]  His  troops  gained  a  victory 
over  the  I'artars  near  Azoph,  and  a  few  months 
afterwards  took  from  them  the  city  of  Or,  or  Or- 
kapi,  which  we  call  Precop.*  As  to  himself,  he 
still  continued  improving  in  different  arts  :  he 
went  frequently  from  Saardam  to  Amsterdam, 
to  hear  the  lectures  of  the  celebrated  anato- 
mist, Ruysch  ;  and  made  himself  master  of 
several  operations  in  surgery,  which,  in  case  of 
necessity,  might  be  of  use  both  to  himself  and 
his  officers.  He  went  through  a  course  of  natu- 
ral philosophy,  in  the  house  of  the  burgomaster 
VVitzen,  a  person  for  ever  estmiable  for  iiis  pa- 
triotic virtue,  and  the  noble  use  he  madb  of  his 
immense  riches,  which  he  distributed  like  a  citizen 
of  the  world,  sending  men  of  abilities,  at  a  great 
expense,  to  all  parts  of  the  globe,  in  search  of 
whatever  was  most  rare  and  valuable,  and  fitting 
out  vessels  at  his  own  charge  to  make  new  disco- 
veries. 

Peter  Bas  gave  a  truce  to  his  labours  for  a  short 
time,  but  it  was  only  to  pay  a  private  visit  at 
Utrecht,  and  at  the  Hague,  to  William,  king  of 
England,  and  stadtholder  of  the  United  Pro- 
vinces. General  Le  Fort  was  the  only  one  ad- 
mitted to  the  private  conference  of  the  two  mo- 
narchs.  Peter  assisted  afterwards  at  the  public 
entry  of   his  ambassadors,   and   at  their   audi- 

•  Precop,  or  Perekop,  once  a  fortress  on  tlie  Isthmus, 
nrhich  joins  the  peninsula  of  Crira  'J'ar:or3'  to  the  main 
land  of  little  Tartary,  in  European  Turkey,  and  thence 
considered  as  the  key  to  that  country.  It  has  its  name 
from  the  ditches  cat  acroM  for  the  defence  of  the  penia* 
aula. 

£ 


98  HISTORY  OF 

ence  :  they  presented,  in  his  name,  to  the  deputy 
of  the  states,  six  hundred  of  the  most  beaatiful 
sables  that  could  be  procured  ;  and  the  states, 
over  and  above  the  customary  presents  on  these 
occasions,  of  a  gold  chain  and  a  medal,  gave 
tliem  three  magnificent  coaches.  They  received 
the  first  visits  of  all  the  plenipotentiaries  who 
were  at  the  congress  of  Ryswick,  excepting 
those  of  France,  to  whom  they  had  not  notified 
their  arrival,  not  only  because  the  czar  espoused 
the  cause  of  Augustus  against  the  prince  of  Conti, 
but  also  because  king  William,  whose  friend- 
ship he  was  desirous  of  cultivating,  was  averse 
to  a  peace  with  France. 

At  his  return  to  Amsterdam  he  resumed  his 
former  occupations,  and  completed  with  his  own 
hands,  a  ship  of  sixty  guns,  that  he  had  begun 
himself^and  sent  her  to  Archangel  ;  which  was 
the  only  port  he  had  at  that  time  on  the  ocean. 

He  not  only  engaged  in  bis  service  several 
French  refugees,  Swiss,  and  Germans  ;  but  he 
also  sent  all  sorts  of  artists  over  to  Moscow,  and 
he  previously-  made  a  trial  of  their  several  abi- 
lities himself.  There  were  few  trades  or  arts 
which  <ie  did  not  perfectly  well  understand,  in 
their  minutest  branches  :  he  took  a  particular 
pleasure  in  correcting  with  his  own  hands,  the 
geographical  maps,  which  at  that  time  laid  dovm 
at  hazard  the  positions  of  the  towns  and  rivers 
in  his  vast  dominions,  then  very  little  known. 
There  is  still  preserved,  a  map,  on  which  he 
marked  out,  with  his  own  hand,  his  projected 
commauication  of  t,he  Caspian  and  Black  Seas, 
the  execution  of  which  he  had  given  in  charge 
to  iVlr.  Brekel,  a  German  engineer.  The  junction 
of  these  two  seas  was  indeed  a  less  difficult  en- 
terprise than  that  of  the  Ocean  and  Mediterra- 
nean, which  was   eflfected   in  France;    but  the 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  99 

very  idea  of  joining  the  sea  of  Azoph  with  the 
Caspian,  astonished  the  imagination  at  that  time: 
but  new  establishments  in  that  country  became 
the  object  of  his  attention,  in  proportion  as  hia 
successes  begat  new  hopes. 

His  troops,  commanded  by  general  Schein  and 
prince  Dolgorowski,  had  lately  gained  a  victory 
over  the  Tartars  near  Azoph,  and  likewise  over 
a  body  of  janissaries  sent  by  sultan  Mustapha 
to  their  assistance.  (July  1696.)  This  success 
served  to  make  him  more  respected,  even  by  those 
who  blamed  him,  as  a  sovereign,  for  having  quit- 
ted his  dominions,  to  turn  workman  at  Amster- 
dam. They  now  saw,  that  the  affairs  of  the 
monarch  did  not  suffer  by  the  labours  of  the  phi- 
losopher, the  traveller,  and  the  artificer. 

He  remained  at  Amsterdam,  constantly  em- 
ployed in  his  usual  occupations  of  shipbuilding, 
engineering,  geography,  and  the  practice  of  na- 
tural philosophy,  till  the  middle  of  January  1698, 
and  then  he  set  out  for  England,  but  still  as  one 
of  the  retinue  of  his  ambassadors. 

King  William  sent  his  own  yacht  to  meet  him, 
and  two  ships  of  >*ar  as  convoy.  In  England  he 
observed  the  same  manner  of  living  as  at  Am- 
sterdam and  Saardam ;  he  took  an  apartment  near 
the  king's  dockyard,  at  Deptford,  where  he  ap- 
plied himself  wholly  to  gain  instruction.  The 
Dutch  builders  had  only  taught  him  their  method, 
and  the  practical  part  of  shipbuilding.  In  Eng- 
land he  found  the  art  better  explained  ;  for  there 
they  work  according  to  mathematical  proportion. 
He  soon  made  himself  so  perfect  in  this  science, 
that  he  was  able  to  give  lessons  to  others.  He 
began  to  build  a  ship  according  to  the  English 
method  of  construction,  and  it  proved  a  prime 
sailor.  The  art  of  watchmaking,  which  was  al 
ready  brought  to  perfection  in  London,  next  at- 


100  HISTORY  OF 

tracted  liis  attention,  and  he  made  himself  com- 
plete master  of  the  whole  theory.  Captain  Perry, 
the  engineer,  who  followed  him  from  London  to 
Russia,  says,  that  from  the  casting  of  cannon,  to 
the  spinning  of  ropes,  there  was  not  any  one 
branch  of  trade  belonging  to  a  ship  that  he  did 
not  minutely  observe,  and  even  put  his  hand  to, 
as  often  as  he  came  into  the  places  where  those 
trades  were  carried  on. 

In  order  to  cultivate  his  friendship,  he  was  al- 
lowed to  engage  several  English  artificers  into 
his  service,  as  he  had  done  in  Holland  ;  but,  over 
and  above  artificers,  he  engaged  likewise  some 
mathematicians,  which  he  would  not  so  easily 
have  found  in  Amsterdam.  Ferguson,  a  Scotch- 
man, an  excellent  geometrician,  entered  into  his 
service,  and  was  the  first  person  who  brought 
arithmetic  into  use  in  the  exchequer  in  Russia, 
where  before  that  time,  they  made  use  only  of  the 
Tartarian  method  of  reckoning,  with  balls  strung 
upon  a  wire ;  a  method  which  supplied  the  place 
of  writing,  but  was  very  perplexing  and  imper- 
fect, because,  after  the  calculation,  there  was  no 
method  of  proving  it,  in  order  to  discover  any 
error.  The  Indian  ciphers,  which  are  now  in 
use,  were  not  introduced  among  us  till  the  ninth 
century,  by  Arabs  ;  and  they  dul  not  make  their 
way  into  the  Russian  empire  till  one  thousand 
years  afterwards.  Such  has  been  the  fate  of  the 
arts,  to  make  their  progress  slowly  round  the 
globe.  He  took  with  him  two  young  students 
from  a  mathematical  school,*  and  this  was  the 
beginning  of  the  marine  academy,  founded  after- 
wards by  Peter  the  Great.  He  observed  and 
calculated  eclipses  with  Ferguson.     Perry,  the 

•  These  were  two  Bcholars  frcm  Christ  Church 
Hospital,  commonly  called  blae  coat  boys. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  101 

engineer,  though  greatly  discontented  at  not  being 
sufficiently  rewarded,  acknowledges,  that  Peter 
made  himself  a  proficient  in  astronomy  ;  that  he 
perfectly  well  understood  the  motions  of  the 
heavenly  bodies,  as  well  as  the  laws  of  gravitation, 
by  which  they  are  directed.  This  force,  now  so 
evidently  demonstrated,  and  before  the  time  of 
the  great  Newton  so  little  known,  by  which  all 
the  planets  gravitate  towards  each  other,  and 
which  retain  them  in  their  orbits,  was  already 
become  familiar  to  a  sovereign  of  Russia,  while 
other  countries  amused  themselves  with  imagi- 
nary vertices,  and,  in  Galileo's  nation,  one  set  of 
ignorant  persons  ordered  others,  as  ignorant,  to 
believe  the  earth  to  be  immoveable. 

Perry  set  out  in  order  to  effect  a  communica- 
tion between  rivers,  to  build  bridges,  and  con- 
struct sluices.  The  czar's  plan  was  to  open  a 
communication  by  means  of  canals  between  the 
Ocean,  the  Caspian,  and  the  Black  Seas. 

We  must  not  forget  to  observe,  that  a  set  of 
English  merchants,  with  the  marquis  of  Caermar- 
then  *  at  their  head,  gave  Peter  fifteen  thousand 
pounds  sterling,  for  the  permission  of  vending  to- 
bacco in  Russia.  The  patriarch,  by  a  mistaken 
severity,  had  intenlicted  this  branch  of  trade  ; 
for  the  Russian  church  forbid  smoking,  as  an  un- 
clean and  sinful  action.  Peter,  who  knew  better 
things,  and  who,  amongst  his  many  projected 
changes,  meditated  a  reformation  of  the  church, 
introduced  this  commodity  of  trade  into  his  dc- 
minicns. 

Before  Peter  left  England,  he  was  entertained 
by  king  Willian  with  a  spectacle  worthy  such  a 

•  Tlie  czar  was  particularij'  fond  of  this  nobleman, 
because  lie  was  a  great  lover  of  maritime  affairs,  fre- 
quently rowed  and  sailed  wiili  Lim  upon  the  water,  and 
gave  him  what  information  he  could  concerning  shipping. 


102  HISTORY  OF 

gaest :  this  was  a  mock  sea-fight.  Little  was  it 
then  imagined,  that  the  czar  would  one  day  fight 
a  real  battle  on  this  element  against  the  Swedes, 
and  gain  naval  victories  in  the  Baltic.  In  fine, 
William  made  him  a  present  of  the  vessel  in 
which  he  used  to  go  over  to  Holland,  called  the 
Royal  Transport,  a  beautiful  yacht,  and  magnifi- 
cently adorned.  In  this  vessel  Peter  returned  to 
Holland  the  latter  end  of  1698,  taking  with  him 
three  captains  of  ships  of  war,  five  and  twenty 
captains  of  merchant  ships,  forty  lieutenants, 
thirty  pilots,  as  many  surgeons,  two  hundred  and 
fifty  gunners,  and  upwards  of  three  hundred  ar- 
tificers. This  little  colony  of  persons  skilful  in 
all  branches,  sailed  from  Holland  to  Archangel, 
on  board  the  Royal  Transport,  and  from  thence 
were  distributed  into  all  the  diflferent  places 
where  their  services  were  necessary.  Those  who 
had  been  engaged  at  Amsterdam  wen^.  by  the 
way  of  Narva,  which  then  belonged  to  the  Swedes. 

While  he  was  thus  transplanting  the  arts  and 
manufacture  of  England  and  Holland  into  his 
own  country,  the  officers,  whom  he  had  sent  to 
Rome,  and  other  places  in  Italy,  had  likewise 
engaged  some  artists  in  his  service.  General 
Sheremeto,  who  was  at  the  head  of  his  embassy 
to  Italy,  took  the  tour  of  Rome,  Naples,  Venice, 
aiid  Malta,  while  the  czar  proceeded  to  \ienna 
with  his  other  ambassadors.  He  had  now  only 
to  view  the  military  discipline  of  the  Germans, 
after  having  seen  the  English  fleets,  and  the  dock- 
yards of  Holland.  Politics  had  likewise  as  great 
a  share  in  this  journey  as  the  desire  of  instruc- 
tion. The  emperor  was  his  natural  ally  against 
the  Turks.  Peter  had  a  private  audience  of 
Leopold,  and  the  two  monarchs  conferred  stand- 
ing, to  avoid  the  trouble  of  ceremony. 

There  happened  nothing  worthy  remark  during 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  103 

his  stay  at  Vienna,  except  the  celebration  of  the 
ancient  feast  of  the  landloid  and  landlady,  which 
had  been  disused  for  a  considerable  time,  and 
which  Leopold  thought  proper  to  revive  on  the 
czar's 'account.  This  feast,  which  l)y  the  Ger- 
mans is  called  Wurtchafft,  is  celebrated  in  the 
following  manner  : — 

The  emperor  is  landlord  and  the  empress  land- 
lady, the  king  of  the  Romans,  the  archdukes  and 
the  archduchesses  are  generally  their  assistants  : 
they  entertain  people  of  all  nations  as  their 
guests,  who  come  dressed  after  the  most  ancient 
fashion  of  their  respective  countries  :  those  who 
are  invited  to  the  feast,  draw  lots  for  tickets,  on 
each  of  which  is  written  the  name  of  the  nation, 
and  the  character  or  person  they  are  to  repre- 
sent. One  perhaps  draws  a  ticket  for  a  Chinese 
mandarin  ;  another  for  a  Tartarian  nnrza ;  a  third 
a  Persian  satrap  ;  and  a  fourth  for  a  Roman  se- 
nator ;  a  princess  may,  by  her  ticket,  be  a  gar- 
dener's wife,  or  a  milk-maid  ;  a  prince  a  peasant, 
or  a  common  soldier.  Dances  are  composed 
suitable  to  all  those  characters,  and  the  landlord 
and  landlady  with  their  family  wait  at  table. 
Such  was  the  ancient  institution  ;  but  on  this 
occasion  *  Joseph,  king  of  the  Romans,  and  the 
countess  of  Traun,  represented  the  ancient 
Egyptians.  The  archduke  Charles,  and  the  coun 
tess  of  Walstein,  were  dressed  like  Flemings  in 
the  time  of  Charles  the  Fifth.  The  archduchess 
Mary  Elizabeth  and  count  Traun  were  in  the 
habits  of  Tartars  ;  the  archduchess  Josephina 
and  the  count  of  Workslaw  were  habited  like 
Persians,  and  the  archduchess  Mariamne  and 
prince  Maximilian  of  Hanover  in  the  character 
of  North  Holland  peasants.     Peter  appeared  in 

*  Le  Fort's  MSS.  and  tlioae  of  Petersburg. 


lO-i  HISTORY  OF 

the  dress  of  a  Friesland  boor,  and  all  R'bo  spoke 
to  him  addressed  him  in  that  character,  at  the 
same  time  talkiiig  to  him  of  the  great  czar  of 
Muscovy.  These  are  trifling  particulars ;  but 
whatever  revives  the  remembrance  of  ancient 
manners  and  customs,  is  in  some  degree  worthy 
of  being  recorded. 

Peter  was  ready  to  set  out  from  Vienna,  in 
order  to  proceed  to  Venice,  to  complete  his  tour 
of  instruction,  when  he  received  the  news  of  a 
rebellion,  which  had  lately  broke  out  in  his  do- 
minions. 


CHAP.  X. 

A  conspiracy  punished. — The  corps  of  streliues  abolished, 
alterations  in  customs,  manners,  church,  and  state. 

r^ZAR  Peter,  when  he  left  his  dominions  to  set 
out  on  his  travels,  had  provided  against 
every  incident,  even  that  of  rebellion.  But  the 
great  and  serviceable  things  he  had  done  for  his 
countrv,  proved  the  very  cause  of  this  rebellion. 
Certain  old  boyards,  to  whom  the  ancient  cus- 
toms were  still  dear,  and  some  priests,  to 
whom  the  new  ones  appeared  little  better  than 
sacrilege,  began  these  disturbances,  and  the  old 
faction  of  the  princess  Sophia  took  this  opportu- 
nity to  rouse  itself  anew.  It  is  said,  that  one  of 
her  sisters,  who  was  confined  to  the  same  monas- 
tery, contributed  not  a  little  to  excite  these  sedi- 
tions. Care  was  taken  to  spread  abroad  the 
danger  to  be  feared  from  the  introduction  of 
foreigners  to  instruct  the  nation.  In  short,  who 
would  believe,  that*  the  permission  which  the 
czar  had  given  to  import  tobacco  into  his  empire, 
contrary  to  the  inclination  of  the  clergy,  was  one 

•  r^  Fort's  MSS. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  105 

of  the  chief  motives  of  the  insurrection  1  Super- 
stition, the  scourge  of  every  country,  yet  the  dar- 
ling of  the  multitude,  spread  itself  from  the  com- 
mon people  to  the  strelitzes,  who  had  been  scat- 
tered on  the  frontiers  of  Lithuania  :  they  assem- 
bled in  a  body,  and  marched  towards  Moscow, 
with  the  intent  to  place  the  princess  Sophia  on 
the  throne,  and  for  ever  to  prevent  the  return  of 
a  czar  who  had  violated  the  established  customs,* 
by  presuming  to  travel  for  instruction  among 
foreigners.  The  forces  commanded  by  Schein 
and  Gordon,  who  were  much  better  disciplined 
than  the  strelitzes,  met  them  fifteen  leagues  from 
Moscow,  gave  them  battle,  and  entirely  defeated 
them  :  but  this  advantage,  gained  by  a  foreign 
general  over  the  ancient  militia,  among  whom 
were  several  of  the  burghers  of  Moscow,  contri- 
buted still  more  to  irritate  the  people. 

To  quell  these  tumults,  the  czar  sets  out  pri- 
vately from  Vienna,  passes  through  Poland,  has 
a  private  interview  with  Augustus,  concerts  mea- 
sures with  that  prince  for  extending  the  Russian 

•  A  most  extraordinary  instance  of  iLe  obstinate  at- 
tachment of  the  Russians  to  their  old  customs,  happeoad 
in  the  time  of  the  czar  Bassilowitz,  and  undoubtedly  in 
fluenced  liim  not  a  iittle  in  the  severity  with  which  he 
treated  his  people.  The  king  of  Poland,  Stephen  Battori, 
havinj^  recovered  Livonia,  went  himself  into  that  province 
to  establish  a  i  ew  form  of  government.  According  to  the 
constant  custom  there,  when  any  peasant,  all  of  whom  were 
treated  as  slaves,  had  committed  a  fault,  he  was  whipped 
with  a  rod  till  the  blood  came.  The  king  was  willing  to 
commute  this  barbarous  punishment  for  one  that  wa« 
more  moderate  ;  but  the  peasants,  insensible  of  the  favour 
designed  them,  threw  themselves  at  his  feet,  and  intreated 
him  not  to  make  any  alterations  in  their  ancient  customs, 
because  they  Lad  experienced,  that  all  innovations,  far 
from  procuring  them  the  least  redress,  had  always  ma<i* 
their  burthens  sit  the  heavier  on  them. 

E  i 


106  HlST0R5f  OF 

dominions  on  the  side  of  the  Baltic,  and  at  length 
arrived  at  Moscow,  where  he  surprised  every  one 
•with  his  presence  :  he  then  confers  rewards  on 
the  troops  who  had  defeated  the  strelitzes,  (Sept. 
1698,)  of  whom  the  prisons  were  now  full.  If 
the  crimes  of  these  unhappy  wretches  were  great, 
their  punishment  was  no  less  so.  Their  leaders, 
with  several  of  their  officers  and  priests,  were 
condemned  to  death ;  some  were  broken  upon  the 
wheel,*  and  two  women  were  buried  alive  ;  up- 
wards of  two  thousand  of  the  strelitzes  were  exe- 
cuted, part  of  whom  were  hung  round  about  the 
walls  of  the  city,  and  others  put  to  death  in  dif- 
ferent manners,  and  their  dead  bodies  remained 
exposed  for  two  days  in  the  high  roads.t  parti- 
cularly about  the  monastery  where  the  princesses 
Sophia  and  Eudocia  resided. $  Monuments  cf 
stone  were  erected,  on  which  their  crimes  and 
punishments  were  set  forth.  A  great  number  of 
them  who  had  wives  and  children  at  Moscow, 
were  dispersed  with  their  families  into  Siberia, 
the  kingdom  of  Astracan,  and  the  country  oi 
Azoph.     This  punishment  was  at  least  of  service 

•  Memoirs  of  captain  Perry,  the  engineer,  employed 
by  Peter  the  Great,  in  Russia,  and  MSS.  of  Le  Fort. 

t  Captain  Perry,  in  p.  184  of  his  memoirs.  833-8,  that 
these  executions  being  performed  in  the  depth  of  winter, 
I  heir  bodies  were  immediately  frozen  ;  those  who  were 
beheaded,  were  ordered  to  be  left  in  the  same  posture  as 
when  executed,  in  ranks  tjpon  the  ground,  with  their  heads 
lying  by  them :  and  those  who  were  hanged  round  the 
three  walls  of  the  city,  were  left  hanging  the  whole  win- 
ter,  to  the  view  of  the  peoplt,  till  the  warm  weather  began 
to  come  oii  in  the  spring,  when  they  were  taken  down  and 
buried  together  in  a  pit,  to  prevent  infection.  This  author 
adds,  that  there  were  other  gibbets  placed  on  all  the  pub- 
lic roads  leading  to  Moscow,  where  others  of  these  rcbeb 
wer«  hanged. 

:  MSS.  of  Le  Fort 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  107 

to  the  state,  as  they  helped  to  cultivate  and  peo- 
ple a  large  tract  of  waste  land. 

Perhaps,  if  the  czar  had  not  found  it  absolutely 
necessary  to  make  such  terrible  examples,  he 
might  have  employed  part  of  those  strelitzes 
whom  he  put  to  death,  upon  the  public  works  ^, 
whereas  they  were  now  lost  both  to  him  and  the 
state  :  the  lives  of  men  ought  to  be  held  in  great 
estimation,  especially  in  a  country  wWpre  the  in- 
crease of  inhabitants  ought  to  have  been  the  prin- 
cipal care  of  the  legislature  :  but  he  thought  it 
necessary  to  terrify  and  break  the  spirit  of  the 
nation  by  executions,  and  the  parade  attending 
them.  The  entire  corps  of  the  strelitzes,  whose 
number  not  one  of  his  predecessors  had  even 
dared  to  think  of  diminishing,  was  broke  for  ever, 
and  their  very  name  abolished.  This  change  was 
effected  without  any  resistance,  because  matters 
had  been  properly  prepared  beforehand.  The 
Turkish  sultan,  Osman,  as  I  have  already  re- 
marked, was  deposed  and  murdered  in  the  same 
century,  only  for  giving  the  jani;5saries  room  to 
suspect  that  he  intended  to  lessen  their  number. 
Peter  had  better  success,  because  he  had  taken 
better  measures. 

Of  this  powerful  and  numerous  body  of  the 
strelitzes,  he  left  only  two  feeble  regiments,  from 
whom  there  could  no  longer  be  anv  danger  ;  and 
yet  these  still  retaining  their  old  spirit  of  mu- 
tiny, revolted  again  in  Astracan,  in  the  year 
1705,  but  were  quickly  suppressed. 

But  while  we  are  relating  Peter's  severity  in 
this  affair  of  state,  let  us  not  forget  to  commemo- 
rate the  more  than  equal  humanity  he  shewed 
some  time  afterwards,  when  lie  lost  his  favourite 
LeFort,  who  was  snatched  away  by  an  untimely 
fate,  March  12,  N.  S.  1699,  at  the  age  of  46. 
He  paid  him  the  same  funeral  honours  as  are  be- 


108  HISTORY  OF 

Btowed  on  the  greatest  sovereigns,  and  assisted 
himself  in  the  procession,  carrying  a  pike  in  his 
hand,  and  marching  after  the  captains,  in  the 
rank  of  a  lieutenant,  which  he  held  in  the  de- 
ceased general's  regiment,  hereby  setting  an  ex- 
ample to  his  nobles,  of  the  respect  due  to  merit 
and  the  military  rank. 

After  the  death  of  Le  Fort,  it  appeared  plainly, 
that  the  changes  in  the  state  were  not  o^^^ng  to 
that  general,  but  to  the  czar  himself.  Peter  had 
indeed  been  confirmed  in  his  design  by  his  se- 
veral conversations  with  Le  Fort ;  but  he  had 
formed  and  executed  them  all  without  his  as- 
sistance. 

As  soon  as  he  had  suppressed  the  strelitzes, 
he  established  regular  regiments  on  the  German 
model,  who  were  all  clothed  in  a  short  and  com- 
modious uniform,  in  the  room  of  those  long  and 
troublesome  coats,  which  they  used  to  wear  be- 
fore ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  their  exercise  was 
likewise  more  regular. 

The  regiment  of  Preobrazinski  guards  was 
already  formed  ;  it  had  taken  its  name  from  the 
first  company  of  fifty  men,  whom  the  czar  had 
trained  up  in  his  younger  days,  in  his  retreat  at 
Preobrazinski,  at  the  time  when  his  sister  Sophia 
governed  the  state,  and  the  other  regiment  of 
guards  was  also  established. 

As  he  had  himself  passed  through  the  lowest 
degrees  in  the  army,  he  was  resolved  that  the 
sons  of  his  bovards  and  great  men,  should  serve 
as  common  soldiers  before  they  were  made  offi- 
cers. He  sent  some  of  the  young  nobility  on 
board  of  his  fleet  at  Woronitz  and  Azoph,  where 
he  obliged  them  to  serve  their  apprenticeship  as 
common  seamen.  No  one  dared  to  dispute  the 
commands  of  a  master  who  had  himself  set  the 
example.  The  English  and  Dutch  he  had  brought 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  109 

over  with  him  were  employed  in  equipping  this 
fleet  for  sea,  in  constructing  sluices,  and  building 
docks,  for  careening  the  ships,  and  to  resume  the 
great  work  of  joining  the  Tanais,  or  Don,  and  the 
Wolga,  which  had  been  dropped  by  Brekcl,  the 
German.  And  now  he  began  to  set  about  his 
projected  reformations  in  the  council  of  state, 
in  the  revenue,  in  the  church,  and  even  in  so- 
ciety itself 

The  affairs  of  the  revenue  had  been  hitherto 
administered  much  in  the  same  manner  as  in 
Turkey.  Rlach  boyard  paid  a  stipulated  sum  for 
his  lands,  which  he  raised  upon  the  peasants,  his 
vassals ;  the  czar  appointed  certain  burghers  and 
burgomasters  to  be  his  receivers,  who  were  not 
powerful  enough  to  claim  the  right  of  paying  only 
Buch  sums  as  they  thought  proper  into  the  pub- 
lic treasury.  This  new  administration  of  the 
finances,  was  what  cost  him  the  most  trouble  :  he 
was  obliged  to  try  several  methods  before  he 
could  fix  upon  a  proper  one. 

The  reformation  of  the  church,  which  in  all 
other  countries  is  looked  upon  as  so  dangerous 
and  diflScult  an  attempt,  was  not  so  to  him.  The 
patriarchs  had  at  times  opposed  the  authority  of 
the  crown,  as  well  as  the  streluzes  ;  Nicon  with 
insolence,  Joachin,  one  of  his  successors,  in  an 
artful  manner. 

The  bishops  had  arrogated  the  power  of  life 
and  death,  a  prerogative  directly  contrary  to  the 
spirit  of  religion,  and  the  subordination  of  go- 
vernment, riiis  assumed  power,  which^had  been 
of  long  standing,  was  now  taken  from  them.  The 
patriarch  Adrian,  dying  at  the  close  of  this  cen- 
tury, Peter  declared  that  there  should  for  the 
future  be  no  other. 

I'his  dignity  then  was  entirely  suppressed,  and 
the  great  income  belonging  thereto  was  united  to 


r.;)  HISTORY  OF 

tlit»  public  revenue,  which  stood  in  need  of  this 
adiiiuon.  Although  the  czar  did  not  set  himself 
up  ;is  the  head  of  the  Russian  ."hurch,  as  the 
kings  of  Great  Britain  have  dene  in  regard  to 
the  church  of  England;  yet  he  was,  in  fact,  ab- 
solute master  over  it,  because  the  synods  did  not 
dare  either  to  disobey  the  commands  of  a  despo- 
tic sovereign,  or  to  dispute  with  a  prince  who 
had  more  know'edge  than  themselves. 

We  need  only  to  cast  an  eye  on  the  preamble 
to  the  edict,  concerning  his  ecclesiastical  reguhi- 
tions,  issued  in  iT'il,  to  be  convinced  that  iie 
acted  at  once  as  master  and  legislator:  '  We 
should  deem  ourselves  guilty  of  ingratitude  to 
the  Most  High,  if,  after  having  reformed  the  nu- 
litary  and  civil  orders,  we  neglect  the  spiritual. 
iScc.  For  this  cause,  following  the  example  of 
the  most  ancient  kings,  who  have  been  fain«".i 
for  piety,  we  ha-ve  taken  upon  us  to  make  certai;, 
wholesome  regulations,  touching  the  clergy.'  \i 
is  true,  he  convened  a  synod  for  carrying  iiiic 
execution  his  ecclesiastical  decrees,  but  tUe 
members  of  this  synod,  at  entering  upon  their 
office,  were  to  take  aa  oath,  the  form  of  whici; 
bad  been  drawn  up  and  signed  by  himself.  I'hif; 
was  an  oath  of  submission  and  obedience,  ami 
was  conceived  in  the  following  terms:  '  I  s  veiir 
to  be  a  faithful  and  obedient  servant  and  subjec : 
to  my  true  and  natural  sovereign,  and  to  the  au- 
gust successors  whom  it  shall  please  him  to  no- 
minate, in  virtue  of  the  incontestable  right  of 
which  he  is  possessed  :  I  acknowledge  him  to  be 
the  supreme  judge  of  this  spiritual  college  :  1 
swear  by  the  all-seeing  God,  that  I  understand 
and  mean  this  oath  in  the  full  force  and  sense, 
which  the  words  convey  to  those  who  read  or 
hear  it.'  This  oath  is  much  stronger  Uian  that 
of  the    supxejuacy   in    England.     The    Russian 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  115 

monarch  was  not,  indeed,  one  of  the  fathers  6f 
the  synod,  but  he  dictated  their  laws  ;  and, 
though  he  did  not  touch  the  holy  censer,  he  di- 
rected the  hands  that  held  it. 

Previous  to  this  great  woik,  he  thought,  that 
in  a  state  like  his,  which  stood  in  need  of  being 
peopled,  the  celibacy  of  the  monks  was  contrary 
to  nature,  and  to  the  public  good.  It  was  the 
ancient  custom  of  the  Russian  church,  for  secular 
priests  to  marry  at  least  once  in  their  lives  :  they 
were  even  obliged  so  to  do :  and  formerly  they 
ceased  to  be  priests  as  soon  as  they  lost  their 
wives.  But  that  a  multitude  of  young  people 
of  both  sexes  should  make  a  vow  of  living  useless 
in  a  cloister,  and  at  the  expense  of  others,  ap- 
peared to  him  a  dangerous  institution.  He, 
therefore,  ordered  that  no  one  should  be  admitted 
to  a  monastic  life,  till  they  were  fifty  years  old, 
a  time  of  life  very  rarely  subject  to  a  temptation 
of  this  kind  ;  and  he  forbid  any  person  to  be  ad- 
mitted, at  any  age  soever,  who  was  actually  in 
possession  of  any  public  employ. 

This  regulation  has  been  repealed  since  his 
death ,  because  the  government  has  thought  proper 
to  shew  more  complaisance  to  the  monasteries  : 
but  the  patriarchal  dignity  has  never  been  re- 
vived, and  its  great  revenues  are  now  appropri- 
ated to  the  payment  of  the  troops. 

These  alterations  at  first  excited  some  mur- 
murings.  A  certain  priest  wrote,  to  prove  that 
Peter  was  antichrist,  because  he  would  not  ad- 
rait  of  a  patriarch;  and  the  art  of  printing, 
which  the  czar  encouraged  in  his  kingdom,  was 
made  use  of  to  publish  libels  against  him:  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  there  was  another  priest  who 
started  up  to  prove  that  Peter  could  not  be  anti- 
christ, because  the  number  666  was  not  to  be 
found  in  his  name,  and  that  be  had  not  the  sign 


118  HISTORY  OF 

of  the  Beast.  All  complaints,  however,  were 
soon  quieted.  Peter,  in  fact,  gave  much  more  xo 
the  church  than  he  took  from  it ;  for  he  made  the 
clergy,  bv  degrees,  more  regular  and  more  learn- 
ed. He  founded  three  colleges  at  Moscow,  where 
they  teach  the  languages,  and  where  those  who 
are  designed  for  the  priesthood  are  obliged  to 
study. 

One  of  the  most  necessary  reforms  was  the 
suppression,  or  at  least  the  mitigation  of  the 
Three  Lents,  an  ancient  superstition  of  the  Greek 
church,  and  as  prejudicial  with  respect  to  those 
who  are  employed  in  public  works,  and  especi- 
ally to  soldiers,  as  was  the  old  Jewish  supersti- 
tion of  not  fighting  on  the  sabbath- day.  Accord- 
ingly the  czar  dispensed  with  his  workmen  and 
soldiers  at  least,  observing  these  lents,  in  which, 
though  they  were  not  permitted  to  eat,  they  were 
accustomed  to  get  drunk.  He  likewise  dispensed 
with  their  observance  of  meagre  days ;  the 
chaplains  of  the  fleet  and  army  were  obliged  to 
set  the  example,  which  they  did  without  much 
reluctance. 

The  calendar,  another  important  object.  For- 
merly, in  all  the  countries  of  the  world,  the  chiefs 
of  religion  had  the  care  of  regulating  the  year, 
not  only  on  account  of  the  feasts  to  be  observed, 
but  because,  in  ancient  times,  the  priests  were 
the  only  persons  who  understood  astronomy. 

The  year  began  with  the  Russians  on  the  1st 
of  September.  Peter  ordered,  that  it  should  for 
the  future  commence  the  first  day  of  January, 
as  among  the  other  nations  of  Europe.  This  al- 
teration was  to  take  place  in  the  year  1700,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  century,  which  lie  celebrated 
by  a  jubilee,  and  other  grand  solemnities.  It  was 
a  matter  of  surprise,  to  the  common  people,  how 
the  czar  should  be  able  to  change  the  course  of 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  113 

the  Bun.  Some  obstiuate  persons,  persuaded  that 
God  had  created  the  world  in  September,  conti- 
nued their  old  style  :  but  the  alteration  took 
place  in  all  the  public  offices,  in  the  whole  court 
of  chancery,  and  in  a  little  time  throughout  the 
whole  empire.  Peter  did  not  adopt  the  Grego- 
rian calendar,  because  it  had  been  rejected  by 
the  English  mathematicians  ;  but  which  must, 
nevertheless,  be  one  day  received  in  all  countries. 

Ever  since  the  5th  century,  the  time  when  let- 
ters first  came  into  use  ::mong8t  them,  they  had 
been  accustomed  to  write  upon  long  rolls,  made 
either  of  the  bark  of  trees,  or  of  parchment,  and 
afterwards  of  paper  ;  and  the  czar  was  obliged 
to  publish  an  edict,  ordering  every  one,  for  the 
future,  to  write  after  our  manner. 

The  reformation  now  became  general.  Their 
marriages  were  made  formerly  after  the  same 
manner  as  in  'I'urkcy  and  Persia,  where  the 
bridegroom  does  not  see  his  bride  till  the  contract 
is  signed,  and  they  cad  no  longer  go  from  their 
words.  This  custom  may  do  well  enough  among 
those  people,  where  polygamy  prevails,  and 
where  the  women  are  always  shut  up  ;  but  it  is 
a  very  bad  one  in  countries  where  a  man  is  con- 
fined to  one  wife,  and  where  divorces  are  seldom 
allowed. 

'I'he  czar  was  willing  to  accustom  his  people 
to  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  nations  which 
he  had  visited  in  his  travels,  and  from  whence 
he  had  taken  the  masters  who  were  now  instnct- 
ing  them. 

It  appeared  necessary  that  the  Russians  should 
not  be  dressed  in  a  different  manner  from  those 
who  were  teaching  them  the  arts  »u(\  B-i-iences  , 
because  the  aversion  to  strangers,  wtiich  is  but 
too  natural  to  mankind,  is  not  a  little  kept  up  by 
a  difference  of  dress.     The  full  dress,  which  at 


114  HISTOR\    OF 

that  time  partook  of  the  fashjons  of  the  Poles,  the 
Tartars,  and  the  ancient  Hungarians,  was,  as  we 
have  elsewhere  observed,  very  noble  ;  but  the 
dress  of  the  burghers  and  common  people  resem- 
bled those  jackets  plaited  round  the  waist,  which 
are  still  given  to  the  poor  children  in  some  of  the 
French  hospitals.*  In  general,  the  robe  was 
formerly  the  dress  of  all  nations,  as  being  a  gar- 
ment that  required  the  least  trouble  and  art  ; 
and,  for  the  same  reason,  the  beard  was  suffered 
to  grow.  The  czar  met  with  but  little  difficulty 
in  introducing  our  mode  of  dress,  and  the  custom 
of  shaving  among  his  courtiers;  but  the  people 
were  more  obstinate,  he  found  himself  obliged  to 
Jay  a  tax  on  long  coats  and  beards.  Patterns  of 
close-bodied  coats  were  hung  up  in  public  places  ; 
and  whoever  refused  to  pay  the  tax  were  obliged 
to  suffer  their  robes  and  their  beards  to  be  cur- 
tailed :  all  this  was  done  in  a  jocular  manner, 
and  this  air  of  pleasantry  prevented  seditions. 

It  has  ever  been  the  aim  of  all  legislators  to 
render  mankind  more  sociable  ;  but  it  is  not  suf- 
ficient to  effect  this  end,  that  they  live  together 
in  towns,  there  must  be  a  mutual  intercourse  of 
civility.  This  intercourse  sweetens  all  the  bit- 
terness of  life.  J'he  czar,  therefore,  introduced 
those  assemblies  which  the  Italians  call  ridotti. 
To  these  assemblies  he  invited  all  the  ladies  of 
his  court,  with  their  daughters  ;  and  they  were 
to  appear  dressed  after  the  fashions  of  the 
gouthern  nations  of  Europe.  He  was  even  him- 
self at  the  pains  of  drawing  up  ruW.'S  for  all  the 
little  decorums  to  be  observed  at  these  social 
entertainments.  Thus,  even  to  good  breedmg 
among  his  subjects,  all  was  his  own  work,  and 
that  of  time. 

•  SoTnewhat  like  those  of  oi:r  blue  coat  boys 
in  England. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  115 

To  make  his  people  relish  these  innovations 
the  b<;tter,  he  abolished  the  word  golut,  slave, 
always  made  use  of  by  the  Russians  when  they 
addressed  r.heir  czar,  or  presented  any  petition  to 
him  ;  and  ordered,  that,  for  the  future,  thev 
should  make  use  of  the  word  raab,  which  sig- 
nifies su/>/>c^  This  alteration  in  no  wise  dimi- 
nished the  obedience  due  to  the  sovereign,  and 
yet  was  the  most  ready  means  of  conciliating 
their  affections.  Every  month  produced  some 
new  change  or  institution.  He  carried  his  at- 
tention even  to  the  ordering  painted  posts  to  be 
set  up  in  the  road  between  Moscow  and  Woro- 
nitz,  to  serve  as  mile  stones  at  the  distance  of 
every  verst ;  that  is  to  say,  every  seven  hundred 
paces,  and  had  a  kind  of  caravanseras,  or  public 
inns,  built  at  the  end  of  every  twentieth  verst. 

While  he  was  thus  extending  his  cares  to  the 
common  people,  to  the  merchants,  and  to  the 
traveller,  he  thought  proper  to  make  an  addition 
to  the  pomp  and  splendour  of  his  own  court ;  for 
though  he  hated  pomp  or  show  in  his  own  per- 
son, he  thought  it  necessary  in  those  about  him  ; 
he  therefore  instituted  the  order  of  St.  Andrew,* 
in  imitation  of  the  several  orders  with  which 
all  the  courts  of  Europe  abound.  Golowin,  who 
succeeded  Le  Fort  in  the  dignity  of  high  admiral, 
was  the  first  knight  of  this  order.  It  was  es- 
teemed a  high  reward  to  have  the  honour  of 
being  admitted  a  member.  It  was  a  kind  of 
badge  that  entitled  the  person  who  bore  it  to  the 
respect  of  the  people.  This  mark  of  honour  costs 
nothing  to  the  sovereign,  and  flatters  the  self- 
love  of  a  subject,  without  rendering  him  too 
powerful. 

'I'hese  many  useful  innovations  were  received 

•  COth  Sept.  1698.  It  is  to  be  observed,  that  I  always 
Collonr  the  aew  style  in  my  dales. 


116  HISTORY  OF 

with  applause  by  the  wiser  part  of  the  nation  ; 
and  the  murmurings  and  complaints  of  those  who 
adhered  to  the  ancient  customs  were  drowned  in 
the  acclamations  of  men  of  sound  judgment. 

While  Peter  was  thus  beginning  a  new  crea- 
tion in  the  interior  part  of  his  state,  he  concluded 
an  advantageous  truce  with  the  Turks,  which 
gave  him  the  liberty  to  extend  his  territories  on 
another  side.  Mustapha  the  Second,  who  had 
been  defeated  by  prince  Eugene,  at  the  battle  of 
Zeuta,  in  1697,  stripped  of  the  Morea  by  the 
Venetians,  and  unable  to  defend  Azoph,  was 
obliged  to  make  peace  with  his  victorious  ene- 
mies, which  peace  was  concluded  at  Carlowiz, 
(Jan.  26,  1699.)  between  Peterwaradin  and 
Salankamon,  places  made  famous  by  bis  defeats. 
Temeswaer  was  made  the  boundary  of  the  Ger- 
man possessions,  and  of  the  Ottoman  dominions. 
Kaminieck  was  restored  to  the  Poles  ;  the  Morea, 
and  some  towns  in  Dalmatia,  which  had  been 
taken  by  the  Venetians,  remained  in  their  hands 
for  some  time  ;  and  Peter  the  First  continued  ir. 
possession  of  Casaph,  and  of  a  few  forts  built  in 
its  neighbourhood. 

It  was  not  possible  for  the  czar  to  extend  his 
dominions  on  the  side  of  Turkey,  without  draw- 
ing upon  him  the  forces  of  that  empire,  before 
divided,  but  now  united.  His  naval  projects  were 
too  vast  for  the  Palus  Maeotis,  and  the  settle- 
ments on  the  Caspian  Sea  would  not  admit  of  a 
fleet  of  men  of  war :  he  therefore  turned  his 
views  towards  the  Baltic  Sea,  but  without  relin- 
quishing those  in  regard  to  the  Tanais  and 
Wolga. 


PiTER  THE  GREAT.  ^117 

CHAP.  XI. 

War  with  Sweden. — The  battle  of  Narva. 

1700.  A  GRAND  scene  was  now  opened  on 
the  frontiers  of  Sweden.  One  of  the 
principal  causes  of  all  the  revolutions  which 
happened  from  Ingria,  as  far  as  Dresden,  and 
which  laid  waste  so  many  countries  for  the 
space  of  eighteen  years,  was  the  abuse  of  the 
supreme  power,  bv  (3harles  XI.  king  of  Sweden, 
father  of  Charles  XII.  This  is  a  fact  which 
cannot  be  too  often  repeated,  as  it  concerns  every 
crowned  head,  and  the  subjects  of  every  nation. 
Almost  all  Livonia,  with  the  whole  of  Esthonia, 
had  been  ceded  by  the  Poles  to  Charles  XI.  king 
of  Sweden,  who  succeeded  Charles  X.  exactly  at 
the  lime  of  the  treaty  of  Oliva.  It  was  ceded 
in  the  customary  manner,  with  a  reservation  of 
rights  and  privileges.  Charles  XL  shewing 
Jittle  regard  to  these  privileges,  John  Reinhold 
Patkul,  a  gentleman  of  Livonia,  came  to  Stock- 
holm in  1692,  at  the  head  of  six  deputies  from 
the  province,  and  laid  their  complaints  at  the 
fool  of  the  throne,  in  respectful,  but  strong 
terms.*  Instead  of  an  answer,  the  deputies 
were  ordered  to  be  imprisoned,  and  Patkul  was 
condemned  to  lose  his  honour  and  his  life.  But 
he  lost  neiiher,  for  he  made  his  escape  to  the 
country  of  Vaud,  in  Switzerland,  where  he  re- 
mained some   lime;   when  he  afterwards  was 

•  Norberg,  chaplain  and  confessor  to  Charles  Xll. 
says,  in  his  history,  '  That  he  had  liie  insolence  lo 
complain  of  oppressions,  and  tiiat  he  was  condemned  to 
lose  l>'.s  honour  and  life.'  This  is  spe<ikini^  like  the 
jiigh-priest  of  depotism.  He  should  have  observed,  that 
no  one  can  deprive  a  citizen  of  his  honour  for  duing  his 
duty. 


118  HISTORY  OF 

informed,  that  Augustus,  elector  c  '  Saxony,  had 
promisfd,  at  his  accession  to  the  throne  of 
Poland,  to  recover  the  provinces  tiat  had  been 
wrested  from  that  kingdom  j  he  hastened  to 
Dresden,  to  represent  to  that  prince,  how  easily 
he  might  inp.ke  himself  master  of  Livonia,  and 
revenge  upon  a  king,  only  seventeen  years  of 
age,  the  losses  that  Poland  had  sustained  by  his 
ancestors. 

At  this  very  time  czar  Peter  entertained 
thoughts  of  seizing  upon  Ingria  and  Carelia. 
These  provincea  had  formerly  belonged  to  the 
Russians,  but  the  Swedes  had  made  themselves 
masters  of  them  by  force  of  arms,  in  the  time  of 
the  false  Demetriuses,  and  had  retained  the 
possession  of  them  by  treaties  :  another  war  and 
new  treaties  might  restore  them  again  to  Russia. 
Patkul  went  from  Dresden  to  Moscow,  and,  by 
exciting  up  the  two  monarchs  to  avenge  his  pri- 
vate causes,  he  cemented  a  close  union  between 
them,  and  directed  their  preparations  for  in- 
vading all  the  places  situated  to  the  east  and 
south  of  Finland. 

Just  at  this  period,  the  new  king  of  Denmark, 
Frederick  IV.  entered  into-  an  alliance  with'  the 
czar  and  the  king  of  Polan  1,  against  Charles,  the 
voung  king  of  Sweden,  who  seemed  in  no  con- 
dition to  withstand  their  united  forces.  Patkul 
had  the  satisfaction  of  besieging  the  Swedes  in 
Riga,  the  capital  of  Livonia,  and  directing  the 
attack  in  quality  of  major-general. 

The  czar  marched  near  eighty  thousand  men 
into  Ingria.  It  is  true,  that,  in  thi-s  numerous 
army,  he  had  not  more  than  twelve  thousand  good 
soldiers,  being  those  he  had  disciplined  himself; 
namely,  the  two  regim.ents  of  guards,  and  some 
few  others,  the  rest  being  a  badly  armed  militia, 
with   bome   Cossacks,   and  Circassian  Tartars  ; 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  119 

but  be  carried  with  him  a  train  of  a  hundred 
and  forty-five  pieces  of  cannon.  He  laid  siege 
to  Narva,  a  small  town  in  Ingria,  that  had  a 
very  commodious  harbour,  and  it  was  generally 
thought  the  place  would  prove  an  easy  conquest. 
S<pt.]  It  is  known  to  all  Europe,  how  Charlee 
XII.  when  not  quite  eighteen  years  of  age,  made 
head  against  all  his  enemiee  and  attacked  them 
one  after  another  ;  he  entered  Denmark,  put  an 
end  to  the  war  in  that  kingdom  in  less  than  six 
weeks,  sent  succours  to  Riga,  obliged  the  enemy 
to  raise  the  siege,  and  marched  against  the  Rus- 
sians encamped  before  Narva,  through  the  mid^t 
of  ice  and  snow,  in  the  month  of  November. 

The  czar,  who  looked  upon  Narva  as  already 
in  his  possession,  was  gone  toNovogorod,  (Nov. 
18,)  and  had  taken  with  him  his  favourite, 
MenzikolF,  then  a  lieutenant  in  the  company  of 
bombardiers,  cf  the  Preobrazinski  regiment,  and 
afterwards  raised  to  the  rank  of  field-marshal 
and  prince  ;  a  man  whose  singular  fortunes  en- 
title him  to  be  spoken  of  more  at  large  in  another 
place. 

Peter  left  the  command  of  the  army,  with  his 
instructions  for  the  siege,  with  the  prince  of 
Croi  ;  whose  family  came  from  Flanders,  and 
who  had  lately  entered  into  the  czar's  service.* 
Prince  Dolgorouki  acted  as  commissary  of  the 
army.  The  jealousy  between  these  two  chiefs, 
and  the  absence  of  the  czar,  were  partly  the 
occasion  of  the  unparalleled  defeat  at  Narva. 

Charles  XII.  having  landed  at  Pemau,  in 
Livonia,  with  his  troops,  in  the  month  of  Octo- 
ber advanced  northward  to  Revel,  where  be 
defeated  an  advanced  body  of  Russians.  He 
continued  his  march,  and  meeting  with  another 
body,  routed  that  likewise.  The  runaways  re- 
•  See  the  History  of  Charles  XII. 


ISO  HISTORY  OF 

turned  to  the  camp  before  Narra,  w\jich  they 
filled  with  consternation.  The  month  of  Novem- 
ber was  now  far  advanced  ;  Narva,  though  un- 
skilfully besieged,  was  on  thp  point  of  surrender- 
ing. The  young  king  of  Sweden  had  not  at  that 
time  above  nine  thousand  men  with  him,  and 
could  bring  only  six  pieces  of  cannon  to  oppose 
to  a  hundred  and  forty-five,  with  which  the 
Russian  intrenchments  were  defended.  All  the 
relations  of  that  time,  and  all  historians  without 
exception,  concur  in  making  the  Russian  army 
then  before  Narva  amount  to  eighty  thousand 
men.  'i'he  memoirs  with  which  I  have  been  fur- 
nished say  sixty  thousand  ;  be  that  as  it  may,  it 
is  certain,  that  Charles  had  not  quite  nine  thou- 
sand ;  and  that  this  battle  was  one  of  those 
which  have  proved,  that  the  greatest  victories 
have  been  frequently  gained  by  inferior  num- 
bers, ever  since  the  famed  one  of  Arbela.* 

Nov.  .50.]  Charles  did  not  hesitate  one  mo- 
ment to  attack  with  his  small  troop  this  army, 
so  greatly  superior  ;  and,  taking  advantage  of  a 
violent  wind,  and  a  great  storm  of  snow,  which 
blew  directly  in  the  faces  of  the  Russians,  he 
attacked  their  intrenchments  under  cover  of 
some  pieces  of  cannon,  which  he  had  posted 
advantageously  for  the  purpose.  The  Russians 
had  not  time  to  form  themselves  in  the  midst  of 
that  cloud  of  snow,  that  beat  full  in  their  faces, 
and  astonished  by  the  discharge  of  cannon,  that 
they  could  not  see,  and  never  imagined  how 
small  a  number  they  had  to  oppose. 

The  duke  de  Croi  attempted  to  give  his  orders, 
but  prince    Dolgorouki  would  not  receive  them. 

•  A  town  on  the  river  Lycus,  in  the  province  of  A»- 
•yria,  now  called  Curdestan,  where  Alexander  the  Great 
fought  his  third  and  decisive  battle,  with  Darius,  king  of 
Persia. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  I2t 

The  Russian  officers  rose  upon  the  German  offi- 
cers;  the  duke's  secretary,  with  Colonel  Lyon, 
and  several  others,  were  murdered.  Every  one 
abandoned  his  post ;  and  tumult,  confusion,  and 
apanic  of  terror,  spread  through  the  whole  army. 
The  Swedish  troops  had  nothing  more  to  do,  but 
to  cut  in  pieces  those  who  were  flying.  Some 
threw  themselves  into  the  river  Narva,  where 
great  numbers  were  drowned  ;  others  threw 
down  their  arms,  and  fell  upon  their  knees  be- 
fore the  conquering  Swedes. 

The  duke  de  Croi,  general  Alland,  and  the 
rest  of  the  general  officers,  dreading  the  Russians 
more  than  the  Swedes,  went  in  a  bod\'  and  surren- 
dered themselves  prisoners  to  count  Steinbock. 
The  king  of  Sweden  now  made  himself  master 
of  all  the  artillery.  'I'hirty  thousand  of  the  van- 
quished enemy  laid  down  their  arms  at  his  feet, 
and  filed  off  bare-headed  and  disarmed  before 
him.  Prince  Dolgorouki,  and  all  the  Russian 
generals,  came  and  surrendered  themselves,  as 
well  as  the  Germans,  but  did  not  know  till  after 
they  had  surrendered,  that  they  had  been  con- 
quered by  eight  thousand  men.  Amongst  the 
prisoners,  was  the  son  of  a  king  of  Georgia, 
whom  Charles  sent  to  Stockholm  :  his  name  was 
MitteleskyCzarovits,  or  czar's  son,  an  additional 
proof  that  the  title  of  czar,  or  tzar,  had  not 
its  original  from  the  Roman  Csesars. 

Charles  XII.  did  not  lose  more  than  one  thou- 
sand two  hundred  men  in  this  battle.  The  czar's 
journal,  v/hich  has  been  sent  me  from  Peters- 
burg, says,  that  including  those  who  died  at  the 
siege  of  Narva,  and  in  the  battle,  and  those  who 
were  drowned  in  their  flight,  the  Russians  lost 
no  more  than  six  thousand  men.  Want  of  ^is- 
ciphne,  and  a  panic  that  seized  the  army,  did  all 
the  work  of  that  fatal  day.  The  number  of  thiu* 
F 


12^  HISTORY  OF 

made  prisoners  of  war,  was  four  times  greater  than 
that  of  the  conquerors ;  and  if  we  may  believe 
Norberg,*  count  Piper,  who  was  afterwards  taken 
prisoner  by  tlie  Russians,  reproached  them,  that 
the  number  of  their  people  made  prisoners  io  the 
battle,  exctc-ded  by  eight  times  the  number  of  the 
whole  Swedish  array.  If  this  is  truth,  the  Swedes 
must  have  made  upwards  of  seventv-two  thou- 
sand prisoners.  This  shews  how  seldom  writers 
are  well  informed  of  particular  circumstances. 
One  thing,  however,  equally  incontestable  and 
extraordinary,  is,  that  the  king  of  Sweden  per- 
mitted one  half  of  the  Russian  soldiers  to  retire 
back,  after  having  disarmed  them,  and  the  other 
half  to  repass  the  river,  with  their  arms  ;  by  this 
unaccountable  presumption,  restoring  to  the  czar 
troops  that,  being  afterwards  well  disciplined, 
became  invincible,  t 

Charles  had  all  the  advantages  that  could  re- 
sult from  a  complete  victory.  Immense  maga- 
zines, transports  loaded  with  provisions,  posts 
evacuated  or  taken,  and  the  whole  country  at  the 
mercy  of  the  Swedish  army,  were  consequences 
of  the  fortune  of  this  day.  Narva  was  now  re- 
lieved, the  shattered  remains  of  the  Russian  army 
did  not  shew  themselves  ;  the  whole  country  as 
far  as  Pleskow  lay  open  ;  the  czar  seemed  bereft 
of  all  resource  for  carrying  on  the  war  ;  and  the 
king  of  Sweden,  victor  in  less  than  twelve 
months  over  the  raonarchs  of  DenmarK,  Poland, 

•  Vol.  I.  p.  439,  ot"  the  4to.  edition,  printed  at  the 
Hague. 

t  The  chaplain  Norberp,  pretends,  that,  immediatelj 
tfter  the  battle  of  Narva,  the  Graad  Seignior  wrote  a  letter 
of  congratulation  to  the  king  cf  Sweden,  in  these  terms. 
'  The  sultan  Easha,  by  the  grace  of  God,  to  Charles  XII. 
&c  '  The  letter  was  dated  from  the  sera  of  the  creation 
01* the  world. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  123 

and  Russia,  was  looked  upon  as  the  first  prince 
in  Europe,  at  an  age  when  other  princes  hardly 
presume  to  aspire  at  reputation.  But  the  un- 
shaken constancy  that  made  a  part  of  Peter's 
character,  prevented  him  from  being  discouraged 
in  any  of  his  projects. 

A  Russian  bishop  composed  a  prayer  to  St. 
Nicholas,*  on  account  of  this  defeat,  which  was 
publicly  read  in  all  the  churches  throughout 
Russia.  Tliis  composition  shews  the  spirit  of  the 
times,  and  the  inexpressible  ignorance  from  which 
Peter  delivered  his  country.  Amongst  other 
things,  it  says,  that  the  furious  and  terrible 
Swedes  were  sorcerers  ;  and  complains  that  St. 
Nicholas  had  entirely  abandoned  his  Russians. 
The  prelates  oi  that  country  would  blush  to  write 
such  stuff  at  present  ;  and,  without  any  offence 
to  the  holy  St.  Nicholas,  the  people  soon  per- 
ceived that  Peter  was  the  most  proper  person  to 
be  applied  to,  to  retrieve  their  losses. 


CHAP.  XII. 


Resources  after  the  battle  of  Narva.  That  disaster  en- 
tirely  repaired.  Peter  sains  a  victory  near  the  same 
place.  The  person  who  was  afterwards  empress  made 
prisoner  at  the  storming  of  a  town.  Peter's  successes. 
His  triumph  at  Moscow, t 

The  years  1701  and  1702. 

'THE  czar  having,  as  has  been  already  observed, 

quitted  his  army  before  Narva,  in  the  end 

of  November,  1700,  in   order  to  go  and  concert 

•  See  History  of  Charles  XII. 
t  This   chapter  and  the  following,  are  taken  entirelv 
from  the  journal  of  Peter  the  Great,  lent  me  from  Peters^ 
barg. 


184  'J.ISTORY  OF 

matters  with  the  King  of  Poland,  received  the 
news  of  the  victory  gained  by  the  Swedes,  as  he 
was  on  his  way.  His  constancy  in  all  emergen- 
cies was  equal  to  the  intrepidity  and  valour  o 
Charles.  He  deferred  the  conference  with  Au- 
gustus, and  hastened  to  repair  the  disordered 
state  of  his  afF.iirs.  The  scattered  troops  ren- 
dezvoused at  Great  Novogorod.  and  from  thence 
marched  to  Pleskow,  on  the  lake  Peipus. 

It  was  not  a  little  matter  to  be  able  to  stand 
upon  the  defensive,  after  so  severe  a  check  :  '  I 
know  very  well.'  said  Peter,  '  that  the  Swedes 
•will  have  the  advantage  of  us  for  some  time,  but 
they  will  teach  us  at  length  to  conquer  them.' 

1701.]  Having  provided  for  the  present  emer- 
gency, and  ordered  recruits  to  be  raised  on  every 
side,  he  sent  to  Moscow  to  cast  new  cannon, 
his  own  having  been  all  taken  before  Narva. 
There  being  a  scarcity  of  metal,  he  took  all  the 
bells  of  the  churches,  and  of  the  religious  houses 
in  JNtoscow.  This  action  did  not  savour  much  of 
superstition,  but  at  the  same  time  it  was  no  mark 
of  impiety.  With  those  bells  he  made  one  hun- 
dred large  cannon,  one  hundred  and  forty-three 
field-pieces,  from  three  to  six  pounders,  besides 
mortars  and  howitzers,  which  were  all  sent  to 
Pleskow.  In  other  countries  the  sovereign  or- 
ders, and  others  execute  ;  but  here  the  czar  was 
obliged  to  see  every  thing  done  himself.  While 
he  was  hastening  these  preparations,  he  entered 
into  a  negotiation  with  the  king  of  Denmark, 
who  engaged  to  furnish  him  with  three  regiments 
of  foot,  and  three  of  cavalrj  ;  an  engagement 
which  that  monarch  could  not  fulfil. 

As  soon  as  this  treaty  was  signed,  he  hurried 
to  the  theatre  of  war.  He  had  an  interview 
with  king  Augustus,  at  Birzen,  (Feb.  27.)  on  the 
frontiers  of  Courland  and  Lithuania.    His  objecl 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  126 

was,  to  confirii)  that  prince  in  his  res.olutioii  ol 
maintaining  the  war  against  Charles  XII.  and 
at  the  same  time  to  engage  the  Polish  Diet  to 
enter  into  the  quarrel.  It  is  well  known,  that  a 
king  of  Poland  is  no  more  than  the  head  person 
in  a  republic.  The  czar  had  the  advantage  of 
being  always  obeyed ;  but  the  kings  of  Poland, 
and  England,  at  present  the  king  of  Sweden,  are 
all  obliged  to  treat  with  their  subjects.*  Palkul 
and  a  few  Poles  in  the  interest  of  their  monarch, 
assisted  at  these  conferences.  Peter  promised  to 
aid  'them  with  subsidies,  and  an  army  of  twenty - 
five  thousand  men.  Livonia  was  to  be  restored 
to  Polap'',  in  case  the  diet  would  concur  with 
their  kiug,  and  assist  in  recovering  this  province  : 
the  diet  hearkened  more  to  their  fears,  than  to 
the  czar's  proposals.  The  Poles  were  apprehen- 
sive of  having  their  liberties  restrained  by  the 
Saxons  and  Russians,  and  were  still  more  afraid 
of  Charles  Xil.  It  was  therefore  agreed  by  the 
majority,  not  to  serve  their  king,  and  not  to  fight. 

The  partisans  of  Augustus  grew  enraged 
against  the  contrary  faction,  and  a  civil  war  was 
lighted  up  in  the  kingdom  ;  because  their  mo- 
narch had  an  intention  to  restore  to  it  a  consi- 
derable province. 

Feb.]  Peter  then  had  only  an  impotent  ally  in 
king  Augustus,  and  feeble  succours  in  the  Saxon 
troops;  and  the  terror  which  Chai.\es  XII.  in- 
spired on  every  side,  reduced  Peter  to  the  neces- 
flity  of  depending  entirely  upon  his  own  strength. 

March  1.]  After  travelling  with  the   greatest 

•  We  must  be^  leave  to  remark  in  this  plaje,  that  a 
king  of  England  has  tlie  power  of  doing  pood  in  virtue  of 
his  own  authority,  and  may  do  evil  if  so  disposed,  by 
havinc^  a  mojority  in  a  corrupt  parliament ;  whereas,  a 
kinj^  of  Poland  can  neithi  r  do  pood  nor  evil,  not  having 
it  in  his  power  to  dispose  even  of  a  prJr  of  colov.ra. 


126  HISTORY  OF 

expedition  from  Moscow  to  Courland,  to  confer 
with  Augustus  :  he  posted  back  from  Courland  lo 
M06COW,  {■)  forward  the  accomplishment  of  his 
promises.  He  actually  dispatched  Prince  Repnin, 
with  four  thousand  men,  to  Riga,  on  the  banks  of 
theDana.wheretheSaxon  troops -were  intrenched. 

July.]  The  general  consternation  was  now  in- 
creased ;  for  Charles,  passing  the  Duna  in  spite 
of  all  the  Saxons,  who  were  advantageously 
posted  on  the  opposite  side,  gained  a  complete 
victory  over  them  ;  and  then,  without  waiting  a 
moment,  he  made  himself  master  of  Courland, 
advanced  into  Lithuania,  and  by  his  presence 
encouraged  the  Polish  faction  that  opposed 
Augustus. 

Peter,  notwithstanding  all  this,  still  pursued 
his  designs.  General  Patkul,  who  had  been  the 
soul  of  the  conference  at  Birzen,  and  who  had 
engaged  in  his  service,  procured  him  some  Ger- 
man officers,  disciplined  his  troops,  and  supplied 
the  place  of  general  Le  Fort :  the  czar  ordered 
relays  of  horses  to  be  provided  for  all  the  officers, 
and  even  for  the  German,  Livonian,  and  Polish 
soldiers,  who  came  to  serve  in  his  armies.  He 
likewise  inspected  in  person  into  every  particular 
relating  to  their  arms,  their  clothing,  and  sub- 
sistence. 

On  the  confines  of  Livonia  and  Esthonia,  and 
to  the  eastward  of  the  province  of  Novogcrod, 
lies  the  great  lake  Peipus,  which  receives  the 
waters  of  the  riverVelika,  from  out  of  the  middle 
of  Livonia,  and  gives  rise  in  its  northern  part  to 
the  river  Naiova,  that  washes  the  walls  01"  the 
town  of  Narva,  near  which  the  Swedes  gained 
their  famous  victor)'.  This  lake  is  upwards  of 
thirty  leagues  in  length,  and  fiom  twelve  to  fif- 
teen in  breadth.  It  was  necessary  to  keep  a  fleet 
there,  to  i)revent  the  Swedish  ships  from  insult' 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  127 

ing  die  province  of  Novogorod  ;  to  be  ready  tc 
make  a  descent  upon  their  coasts,  and  above  all, 
to  be  a  nursery  for  seamen.  Peter  employed  the 
greatest  part  of  the  year  1701,  in  building  on  this 
lake  an  hundred  half  gallies,to  carry  about  fifty 
men  each  ;  and  other  armed  barks  were  fitted 
out  on  the  lake  Ladoga.  He  directed  all  these 
operations  in  person,  and  set  his  new  sailors  to 
work  :  those  who  had  been  employed  in  1697,  at 
the  Palus  Maiotis  were  then  stationed  near  the 
Baltic.  He  frequently  quitted  those  occupations 
to  go  to  Moscow,  and  the  rest  of  the  j)rovinces,  in 
order  to  enforce  the  observance  of  the  late 
customs  he  had  introduced,  or  to  establish  new 
ones. 

Those  princes  who  have  employed  the  leisure 
moments  of  peace  in  raising  public  works,  have 
acquired  to  themselves  a  name  :  but  that  Peter, 
just  after  his  misfortune  at  Narva,  should  apply 
himself  to  the  junction  of  the  Baltic,  Caspian,  and 
the  Black  seas,  by  canals,  has  crowned  him  with 
more  real  glory  than  the  most  signal  victory.  It 
was  in  the  year  170'2,  that  he  began  to  dig  that 
deep  canal,  intended  to  join  the  Tanais  and  the 
Wolga.  Other  communications  were  likewise  to 
be  made,  by  means  of  lakes  between  the  Tanais 
and  the  Duna  ;  whose  waters  empty  themselves 
into  the  Baltic,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Kiga. 
But  this  latter  project  seemed  to  be  still  at  a 
great  distance,  as  Peter  was  far  from  having 
Riga  in  his  possession. 

While  Charles  was  laying  all  Poland  waste, 
Peter  caused  to  be  brought  from  that  kingdom, 
and  from  Saxony,  a  number  of  shepherds,  with 
their  flocks,  in  order  to  have  wool  fit  for  making 
good  cloth  ;  he  likewise  erected  manufactories  of 
linen  and  paper  :  gave  orders  for  collecting  u 
number  of  artificers     such  as  smiths,  braziers, 


1S8  HISTORY  OF 

annourers,  and  founders,  and  the  mines  of  Si- 
beria were  ransacked  for  ore.  Thu3  was  he 
continually  labouring  for  the  embellishment  and 
defence  of  his  dominions. 

Churles  pursued  the  course  of  his  victories,  and 
left  a  sufficient  body  of  troops,  as  he  imagined, 
on  the  frontiers  of  the  czar's  dominions,  to  secure 
all  the  posse.'sions  of  Sweden.  He  had  already 
formed  a  design  to  dethrone  Augustus,  and  after- 
wards to  pursue  the  czar  with  his  victorious  army 
to  the  very  gates  of  Moscow. 

There  happened  several  slight  engagements  in 
the  course  of  this  year,  between  the  Russians  and 
Swedes,  in  which  the  latter  did  not  always  prove 
superior ;  and  even  in  those  where  they  had  the 
advantage,  the  Russians  improved  in  the  art  of 
war.  In  short,  in  little  more  than  twelve  months 
after  the  battle  of  Narva,  the  czar's  troops  were 
so  well  disciplined,  that  they  defeated  one  of  the 
best  generals  belonging  to  the  king  of  Sweden. 

Peter  was  then  at  Pleskov/,  from  whence  he 
detached  numerous  bodies  of  troops,  on  all  sides, 
to  attack  the  Swedes;  who  were  now  defeated 
bj  a  native  of  Russia,  and  not  a  foreigner.  His 
general,  Sheremeto,  by  a  skilful  manoeuvre,  beat 
up  the  quarters  of  the  Swedish  general,  Slipen- 
bak,  in  several  places,  near  Derpt,  on  the  fron- 
tiers of  Livonia  ;  and  at  last  obtained  a  victory 
over  that  officer  himself.  (Jan.  11,  I70'i.)  And 
now,  for  the  first  time,  the  Russians  took  from 
the  Swedes  four  of  their  colours  ,"  which  was 
thought  a  considerable  number. 

May.]  The  lakes  Peipus  and  Ladoga  ware  for 
some  time  afterwards  the  theatres  of  .sea-fights 
between  the  Russians  and  Swedes  ;  in  which 
the  latter  had  the  same  advanLages  as  by  land  : 
namely,  that  of  discipline  and  long  practice  ;  but 
the  Russians  had  some  few  successes  with  their 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  3  29 

half  gallies,  at  the  lake  Peipus,  and  the  field- 
marshal  Sheremeto  took  a  Swedish  frigate. 

By  means  of  this  lake,  the  czar  kept  Livonia 
and  Esthonia  in  continual  alarms ;  his  gallies 
frequently  landed  -everal  regiments  in  those 
provinces  ;  who  reimharked  whenever  they  failed 
of  success,  or  else  pursued  their  advantage  :  the 
Swedes  were  twice  beaten  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Derpt,  (June,  July, J)  while  they  were  victori- 
ous every  where  else. 

In  all  these  actions  the  Russians  were  always 
superior  in  number  ;  for  this  reason,  Charles  XI  I. 
who  was  so  successful  in  every  other  place,  gave 
himself  little  concern  about  these  trifling  advan- 
tages gained  by  the  czar  :  but  he  should  have 
considered,  that  these  numerous  forces  of  his 
rival  were  every  day  growing  more  accustomed 
to  the  business  of  fighting,  and  might  soon  be- 
come formidable  to  himself. 

While  both  parties  were  thus  engaged,  by  sea 
and  land,  in  Livonia,  Ingria,  and  Esthonia,  the 
.:zar  is  informed  that  a  Swedish  fleet  had  set 
Bail,  in  order  to  destroy  Archangel ;  upon  which 
he  immediately  marched  thither,  and  every  one 
was  astonished  to  hear  of  him  on  the  coasts  of 
the  Frozen  Sea,  when  he  was  thought  to  be  at 
Moscow.  He  put  the  town  into  a  posture  of  de- 
fence, prevented  the  intended  descent,  drev/  the 
plan  of  a  citadel,  called  the  New  Dwina,  laid 
the  first  stone,  and  then  returned  to  Moscow,  and 
from  thence  to  the  seat  of  war. 

Charles  made  some  alliances  in  Poland  j  but 
the  Russians,  on  their  side,  made  a  progress  in 
Ingria  and  Livonia.  Marshal  Sheremeto  marched 
to  meet  the  Swedish  army,  under  the  command 
of  Slipenbak,  gave  that  general  battle  near  the 
little  river  Embac,  and  defeated  him,  taking  six- 
teen colours,  and  twenty  pieces  of  cannon,  Nor- 
F2 


130  HISTORY  OF 

berg  places  this  action  on  tl)e  first  of  December, 
1701  ;  but  the  journal  of  Peter  the  Great,  fixes  it 
on  the  nineteenth  of  July,  ITO'-J. 

6th  Aug.]  After  this  advantage,  the  Russian 
general  marched  onwards,  laid  the  whole  country 
under  contributions,  and  takes  the  litile  town  of 
iMarienburg,  on  the  confines  of  Ingria  and  Livonia. 
There  are  several  towns  of  this  name  in  the  north 
of  Europe  ;  but  this,  though  it  no  longer  exists,  is 
more  celebrated  in  history  than  all  the  others, 
by  the  ;uiventure  of  the  empress  Catherine. 

This  little  town,  having  surrendered  at  discre- 
tion, the  Swedes,  who  defended  it,  either  through 
mistake  or  design,  set  fire  to  the  magazine,  'lb* 
Russians,  incensed  at  this,  destroyed  the  town, 
and  (jiirned  away  all  the  inhabitants.  Among 
the  prisoners  was  a  young  woman,  a  native  of 
Livonia,  who  had  been  brought  up  in  the  house  of 
a  Lutheran  minister  of  that  place,  named  Gluck, 
and  who  afterwards  became  the  sovereign  of  those 
who  had  taken  her  captive,  and  who  governed 
Russia  by  the  name  of  the  empress  Catherine. 

There  bad  been  many  instances  before  this,  of 
private  women  being  raised  to  the  throne  ;  no- 
thing was  more  common  in  Russia,  and  in  all 
Asiatic  kingdoms,  than  for  crowned  heads  to 
raarrj  their  own  subjects  ;  but  that  a  poor  stran- 
ger, who  had  been  taken  prisoner  in  the  storming 
of  a  town,  should  become  the  absolute  sovereign 
of  that  very  empire,  whither  she  was  led  captive, 
is  an  instance  which  fortune  never  produced 
before  nor  since  in  the  annals  of  the  world. 

The  Russian  arms  proved  equally  successful  in 
IngTia  :  for  their  half  gallies  on  the  lake  Ladoga 
compelled  the  Swedish  fleet  to  retire  to  Wibourg,* 

•  This  seems  a  mistake  ;  our  author  probably  m&aot 
to  say  Kcrcholme,  because  Wibourg  is  act  oa  ihe  lak« 
Ladoga,  but  on  the  gulf  of  Finlaad. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  13 1 

a  town  at  ilie  other  extremity  of  this  great  lake, 
from  whence  they  could  see  the  siege  of  the  for- 
tress of  Notebourg,  which  was  then  carrying  on 
by  general  Sherenieto.  I'his  was  an  undt^rtaking 
of  much  greater  importance  than  was  imagined 
at  that  time,  as  it  might  open  a  comniunicatiou 
with  the  Baltic  Sea,  the  constant  aim  of  Peter 
the  Great. 

Notebourg  was  a  strong  fortified  town,  built  on 
an  island  in  the  lake  Ladoga,  which  it  entirely 
commands,  and  by  that  means,  whoever  is  in 
possession  of  it,  must  be  masters  of  that  part  of 
the  river  Neva,  wliich  falls  into  the  sea  not  far 
from  thence.  The  Russians  bombarded  the  town 
night  and  day,  from  the  18th  of  September  to 
the  l-th  October  ;  and  at  length  gave  a  general 
assault  by  three  breaches.  1  he  Swedish  garri- 
son was  reduced  to  a  hundred  men  only  capable 
of  defending  the  place  ;  and,  what  is  very  asto- 
nishing, they  did  defend  it,  and  obtain,  even  in 
the  breach,  an  honourable  capitulation  :  more- 
over, colonel  Sli|>enbak,  who  commanded  there, 
would  not  surrender  the  town,  but  on  condition 
of  being  })ermitted  to  send  for  two  Swec'-isb  offi- 
cers from  the  nearest  post,  to  examine  the 
breaches  (Oct.  16.),  in  order  to  bo  witnesses  for 
him  to  the  king  his  master,  that  eighty-three 
men,  who  were  all  then  left  of  the  garrison  capa- 
ble of  bearing  arms,  besides  one  hundred  and 
fifty  sick  and  wounded,  did  not  surrender  to  a 
whole  army,  till  it  was  impossible  for  them  to 
fight  longer,  or  to  preserve  the  place.  This  cir- 
cumstance alone  shews  what  sort  of  an  enemy 
the  czar  had  to  contend  with,  and  the  necessity 
there  was  of  all  his  great  efforts  and  military  dis- 
cipline. He  distributed  gold  medals  among  his 
officers  on  this  occasion,  and  gave  rewards  to  aK. 
the  private  men  ;  e.icept  a  few,  whom  he   pu- 


132  HISTORY  OF 

nished  for  running  away  during  the  assault. 
Their  comrades  spit  in  their  faces,  and  afterwards 
shot  them  to  death ;  thus  adding  ignominy  tc 
punishment. 

NotebouTg  was  repaired,  and  its  name  changed 
to  that  of  Shiiisselburg,  or  the  City  of  the  Key  ; 
that  place  being  the  key  of  Ingria  and  Finland. 
The  first  governor  was  that  MenzikofF,  whom  we 
-have  already  mentioned,  and  who  was  become 
an  excellent  officer,  and  had  merited  this  honour 
by  his  gallant  behaviour  during  the  siege.  His 
example  served  as  an  encouragement  to  all  who 
have  merit  without  being  distinguished  by  birth. 

After  this  campaign  of  1702,  the  czar  resolved 
that  Sheremeto,  and  the  officers  who  had  signa- 
lized themselves,  should  make  a  triumphal  entry 
into  Moscow.  (Dec.  17.)  All  the  prisoners  taken 
in  this  campaign  marched  in  the  train  of  the  vic- 
tors, who  had  the  Swedish  colours  and  standards 
carried  before  them,  together  with  the  flag  of 
the  Swedish  frigate  taken  on  the  lake  Peipus. 
Peter  assisted  in  the  prejjarations  for  this  trium- 
phal pomp,  as  he  had  shared  in  the  great  actions 
it  celebrated. 

These  shows  naturally  inspired  emulation, 
otherwise  they  would  have  been  no  more  than 
idle  ostentation.  Charles  despised  every  thing 
of  this  kind,  and,  after  the  battle  of  Narva,  held 
his  enemies,  (heir  eiForts,  and  their  triumphs,  in 
equal  contempt. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  133 


CHAP.  XIII. 

R«fonDation  at  Moscow  — Further  successes. — Founding 
of  Petersburg. — The  czar  takes  Narva,  &:c. 

T^HE  short  stay  which  the  czar  made  at  Mos- 
cow, in  the  beginning  of  the  winter  1703, 
was  employed  in  seeing  all  his  new  regulations 
put  into  execution,  and  in  improving  the  civil  as 
well  as  the  military  government.  Even  his  very 
amusements  were  calculated  to  inspire  his  sub- 
jects with  a  taste  for  the  new  mannei  of  living 
he  had  introduced  amongst  them.  In  this  view, 
he  invited  all  the  boyards,  and  principa  lladies 
of  Moscow,  to  the  marriage  of  one  of  his  sisters, 
at  which  every  one  was  required  to  appear  dressed 
after  the  ancient  fashion.  A  dmner  was  served 
up  just  in  the  same  manner  as  those  in  the  six- 
teenth century*  By  an  old  superstitious  custom, 
no  one  was  to  light  a  fire  on  the  wedding-day, 
even  in  the  coldest  season.  This  custom  was 
rigorously  observed  upon  this  occasion.  The 
Russians  formerly  never  drank  wine,  but  only 
mead  and  brandy  ;  no  other  liquors  were  permit- 
ted on  this  day,  and,  when  the  guests  made  com- 
plaints, he  replied,  in  a  joking  manner,  *  This 
was  a  custom  with  your  ancestors,  and  old  cus- 
toms are  always  the  best.'  This  raillery  con- 
tributed greatly  to  the  reformation  of  those  who 
preferred  past  times  to  the  present,  at  least  it  put 
a  stop  to  their  murmurings  ;  and  there  are  seve- 
ral nations  that  stand  in  need  of  the  like  example. 
A  still  more  useful  establishment  than  any  of 
the  rest,  was  that  of  a  printing-press,  for  Rus- 
sian and  Latin  types  ;  the  implements  of  which 
were  all  brought  from  Holland.      They  began  by 

•   TakcD  from  the  journal  of  Peter  the  Orfaf- 


134  HISTORY  OF 

printing  translations  in  the  Russian  language  of 
several  books  of  morality  and  polite  literature. 
Ferguson  founded  schools  for  geometry,  astro- 
nomy, and  na%-igation. 

Another  foundation,  no  less  necessary,  was 
that  of  a  large  hospital ;  not  one  of  those  houses 
which  encourage  idleness,  and  perpetuate  the 
misery  of  the  people,  but  such  as  the  czar  had 
seen  at  Amsterdam,  where  old  persons  and  chil- 
dren  are  employed  at  work,  and  where  every  one 
within  the  walls  is  made  useful  in  some  way  or 
other. 

He  established  several  manufactories  ;  and,  as 
soon  as  hr  had  put  in  motion  all  those  arts 
to  which  he  gave  birth  in  Moscow,  he  hastened 
to  Woronitz,  to  give  directions  for  building  two 
ships,  of  eighty  guns  each,  with  long  cradles,  or 
caserns,  fitted  to  the  ribs  of  the  vessel,  to  buoy 
her  up,  and  carry  her  safely  over  the  shoals  and 
banks  of  sand  that  lay  about  Azoph  ;  an  ingenious 
contrivance,  similar  to  that  used  by  the  Dutch 
in  Holland,  to  get  their  large  ships  over  the 
Pampus. 

Having  made  all  the  necessary  preparations 
against  the  Turks,  he  turned  his  attention,  in  the 
next  place,  against  the  Swedes.  He  went  to 
visit  the  ships  that  were  building  at  Olcnita 
(March  30,  1703.),  a  town  between  the  lakes 
Ladago  and  Onega,  where  he  had  established  a 
foundry  for  making  all  kinds  of  arms  ;  and,  when 
every  thing  bore  a  military  aspect,  at  Moscow 
flourished  all  the  arts  of  peace.  A  spring  of  mi- 
neral waters,  which  has  been  lately  discovered 
near  Olonitz,  has  added  to  the  reputation  of  that 
place.  From  thence  he  proceeded  to  Shlussel- 
burg.  wluch  he  fortified. 

We  have  already  observed,  that  Peter  was  de 
terrained  to  pass  regularly  through  all  themilitarf 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  135 

degrees  :  he  had  served  as  lieutenant  of.  bom- 
bardiers, under  prince  jMenzikoft",  before  that 
favourite  was  made  governor  of  Shlusselburg,  and 
he  now  look  the  rank  of  captain,  and  served  under 
marshal  Sheremeto. 

There  was  an  important  fortress  near  the  lake 
Ladoga,  and  not  far  from  the  river  Neva,  named 
Nyantz,  or  Nya.*  It  was  necessary  to  make 
himself  master  of  this  place,  in  order  to  secure 
bis  conquest,  and  favour  his  other  designs.  He 
therefore  undertook  to  transport  a  number  of  small 
barks,  filled  with  soldiers,  and  to  drive  off  the 
Swedish  vessels  that  were  bringing  supplies,  while 
Sheremeto  had  the  care  of  the  trenches.  (  May  22.) 
The  citadel  surrendered,  and  two  Swedish  vessels 
arrived,  too  late  to  assist  the  besieged,  being  both 
attacked  and  taken  by  the  czar.  His  journal  says, 
that,  as  a  reward  for  his  service,  '  The  captain  of 
bombardiers  was  created  knight  of  the  order  of 
St.  Andrew  by  admiral  Golowin,  the  first  knight 
of  that  order.' 

After  the  taking  of  the  fort  of  Nya,  he  resolved 
upon  building  the  city  of  Petersburg,  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Neva,  upon  the  gulf  of  Finland. 

The  affairs  of  king  Augustus  were  in  a  despe- 
rate wav  ;  the  excessive  victories  of  the  Swedes 
in  Poland  had  emboldened  his  enemies  in  the  op- 
position ;  and  even  his  friends  had  obliged  him 
to  dismiss  a  body  of  twenty  thousand  Russians, 
that  the  czar  had  sent  him  to  reinforce  his  army. 
They  thought,  by  this  sacrifice,  to  deprive  the 
malcontents  of  all  pretext  for  joining  the  king  of 
Sweden  :  but  enemies  are  disarmed  by  force,  a 
show  of  weakness  serving  only  to  n^ake  tliein  more 
insolent.  These  twenty  thous^md  men,  that  had 
been  disciplined  by  Patkul,  proved  of  infinite 
service  in  Livonia  and  Ingria,  while  Augustus 
•  Some  writers  call  it  Nyenschnnla. 


136  HISTORV  OF 

was  losing  his  dominions.  This  reinforcement, 
and,  above  all,  the  possession  of  Nya,  enabled  the 
czar  to  found  his  new  capital. 

It  was  in  this  barren  and  marshy  spot  of  ground, 
which  has  communication  with  the  main  land 
only  by  one  way,  that  Peter  laid  the  foundation 
of  Petersburg,  in  the  sixtieth  degree  of  latitude, 
and  the  forty-fourth  and  a  half  of  longitude.  The 
ruins  of  some  of  the  bastions  of  Nya  was  made 
use  of  for  the  first  stones  of  the  foundation.*  They 
began  by  building  a  small  fort  upon  one  of  the 
islands,  which  is  now  in  the  centre  of  the  city. 
The  Swedes  beheld,  without  apprehension,  a 
settlement  in  the  midst  of  a  morass,  and  inacces- 
sible to  vessels  of  burden ;  but,  in  a  very  short 
time,  they  saw  the  fortifications  advanced,  a  town 
raised,  and  the  little  island  of  Cronstadt,  situated 
over  against  it,  changed,  in  1704,  into  an  im- 
pregnable fortress,  under  the  cannon  of  which 
even  the  largest  fleets  may  ride  in  safety. 

These  works,  which  seemed  to  require  a  time 
of  profound  peace,  were  carried  on  ir.  the  very 
bosom  of  war ;  workmen  of  every  sort  were  called 
together,  from  Moscow,  Astracan,  Casan,  and 
the  Ukraine,  to  assist  in  building  the  new  city. 
Neither  the  difficulties  of  the  ground,  that  was  to 
be  rendered  firm,  and  raised,  the  distance  of  the 
necessary  materials,  the  unforeseen  obstacles, 
which  are  for  ever  starting  up  in  all  great  under- 
takings ;  nor,  lastly,  the  epidemical  disorder, 
which  carried  off  a  prodigious  number  of  the  work 
men,  could  discourage  the  royal  founder  ;  and, 
in  the  space  of  five  months,  a  new  city  rose  from 
the  ground.  It  is  true,  indeed,  it  was  little 
better  than  a  cluster  of  huts,  with  only  two  brick 
houses,  surrounded  by  ramparts  ;  but  this  was 
•  Pelergburg  was  founded  on  Whitsunday, 
the  «7th  May,  1703. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  137 

all  that  was  then  necessary.  Time  and  persever- 
ance accomplished  the  rest.  In  less  than  five 
months,  after  the  founding  of  Petersburg,  a  Dutch 
ship  came  to  trade  there,  (Nov.)  the  captain  of 
which  was  handsomely  rewarded,  and  the  Dutch 
Boon  found  the  way  to  Petersburg. 

While  Peter  was  directing  the  establishment 
of  this  coloDY,  he  took  care  to  provide  every  day 
for  its  safety,  by  making  himself  master  of  the 
neighbourins  posts.  A  Swedish  colonel,  named 
Croniort,  had  taken  post  on  the  river  Septra,  and 
thence  threatened  the  rising  city.  Peter,  without 
delay,  marched  against  him  with  his  two  regi- 
ments of  guards,  defeated  him,  (July  8.)  and 
obliged  him  to  repass  the  river.  Having  thus  put 
his  town  in  safety,  he  repaired  to  Olonitz,(Sep.) 
to  give  directions  for  building  a  number  of  smal] 
vessels,  and  afterwards  returned  to  Petersburg, 
on  board  a  frigate  that  had  been  built  bj  his 
direction,  taking  with  him  six  transport  vessels, 
for  present  use,  till  the  others  could  be  got  ready. 
Even  at  this  juncture  he  did  not  forj^et  his  ally, 
the  king  of  Poland,  but  sent  him  (Nov.)  a  rein- 
forcement of  twelve  thousand  foot,  a;nl  a  subsidy 
in  money  of  three  hundred  thousand  rubles,  which 
make  about  one  million  live  hundred  thousand 
French  livres.*  It  has  been  remarked,  that  his 
annual  revenue  did  not  exceed  then  five  million^ 
rubles  ;  a  sum,  which  the  expense  of  his  fleets 
of  his  armies,  and  of  his  new  establishments, 
seemed  more  than  sufficient  to  exhaust.  He  had, 
at  almost  one  and  the  same  time,  fortified  No- 
vogorod,  Pleskow,  Kiow,  Smolensko,  Azoph, 
Archangel,  and  founded  a  capital.  Notwith- 
standing all  which,  he  had  still  a  sufficiency  left 
to  assist  his  ally  with  men  and  money.  Cornelius 
Je  Bruine,  a  Dutchman,  who  was  on  his  travels, 
*  About  sixty  thousand  pounds  sterling. 


J38  HISTORY  OF 

and  at  that  time  iu  Russia,  and  with  whom  he 
frequently  conversed  very  freely,  as  indeed  he 
did  with  al!  strangers,  says,  that  tue  czar  himseli 
assured  him,  that  he  had  still  three  hundred 
thousand  rubles  remaining  in  his  coffers,  after  all 
the  expenses  of  the  war  were  defrayed. 

In  order  to  put  his  infant  city  of  Petersburg  out 
of  danger  of  insult,  he  went  in  person  to  sound 
the  depth  of  water  thereabouts,  fixed  upon  a  place 
for  building  the  fort  of  Cronstadt;  and,  after  mak- 
ing the  model  of  it  in  wood  with  his  own  hands, 
he  employed  prince  ^lenzikoff  to  put  it  in  execu- 
tion. From  thence  he  went  to  pass  the  winter 
at  Moscow,  (Nov.  d.)  in  order  to  estaLlish,  by 
degrees,  the  several  alterations  he  bad  made  in 
the  Ictws,  manners,  and  customs  of  Russia.  He 
regulated  the  finances,  and  put  them  upon  anew 
footing.  He  expedited  the  works  that  were  carry- 
ing on  in  the  Woronitz,  at  Azoph,  and  in  a  harbour 
which  he  had  caused  to  be  made  on  the  Palus 
MsBotis,  under  the  fort  of  Taganrock. 

Jan.  1704.]  The  Ottoman  Porte,  alarmed  al 
these  preparations,  sent  an  embassy  to  the  czar, 
complaining  thereof:  to  wh'ch  he  returned  for 
answer  that  he  was  master  in  his  own  dominions, 
as  well  as  the  grand  seignior  was  in  Turkey,  and 
that  it  was  no  infringement  of  the  peace  to  render 
the  Russian  power  respectable  on  the  Euxine  Sea. 

March  30.]  Upon  his  return  to  Petersburg, 
finding  his  new  citadel  of  Cronstadt,  which  had 
been  founded  in  the  bosom  of  the  sea,  completely 
finished,  he  furnished  it  with  the  necessary  artil- 
lery. But,  in  order  to  settle  himself  firmly  in 
Ingria,  and  entirely  to  repair  the  disgrace  he  had 
suffered  before  Narva,  he  esteemed  it  necessary 
to  take  that  city.  While  he  was  making  prepa- 
rations for  the  siege,  a  small  fleet  appeared  on 
the  lake  of  Peipus,  to  oppose  his  designs.     The 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  139 

Russian  half  galleys  went  out  to  meet  them,  gave 
tbem  battle,  and  took  the  whole  squadron,  which 
had  on  boardninety-eight  pieces  ol  cannon.  After 
this  victory,  the  czar  lays  siege  to  Narva  both  by 
sea  and  Jand,  (April,)  and,  which  was  most  ex- 
traordinary, he  lays  siege  to  the  city  of  Derptin 
Esthonia  at  the  same  time. 

Who  would  have  imagined,  that  there  was  a 
university  in  Derpt "?  Gustavus  Adolphus  had 
founded  one  there,  but  it  did  not  render  that  city 
more  famous,  Derpt  being  only  known  by  these 
two  sieges.  Peter  was  incessantly  going  from  the 
one  to  the  other,  forwarding  the  attacks,  and 
directing  all  the  operations.  The  Swedish  gene- 
ral Slipeabak  was  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Derpt, 
with  a  body  of  two  thousand  five  hundred  men. 

The  besiegers  expected  every  instant  when  he 
would  throw  succours  into  the  place  ;  but  Peter, 
on  this  occasion,  had  recour&e  V>  a  stratagem 
worthy  of  more  frequent  imitation  :  he  ordered 
two  regiments  of  foot,  and  one  of  horse,  to  be 
clothed  in  the  same  uniform,  and  to  carry  the 
same  standards  and  colours  as  the  Swedes :  these 
sham  Swedes  attack  the  trenches,  (June  '^7.)  and 
the  Russians  pretend  to  be  put  to  flight ;  the  gar- 
rison, deceived  by  appearances,  make  a  sally  ; 
upon  which  the  mock  combatants  join  their  forces 
and  fall  upon  the  Swedes,  one  half  of  whom  were 
left  dead  upon  the  place,  and  the  rest  made  shift 
to  get  back  to  the  town.  Slipenbak  arrives  soon 
after  with  succours  to  relieve  it,  but  is  totally 
defeated.  At  length  Derpt  was  obliged  to  ca- 
pitulate, (July  ii'3.)  just  as  the  czar  was  prepar- 
ing every  thing  for  a  general  assault. 

At  the  same  time  Peter  met  with  a  consider- 
able check,  on  the  siile  of  his  new  city  of  Peters- 
burg ;  but  this  did  not  prevent  him  either  from 
going  on  with  the  works  of  that  place,  or  from 


140  HISTORY  OF 

vigorously  prosecuting  the  sieje  of  Narva.  Ithaa 
already  been  observed,  that  he  sent  a  reinforce- 
ment of  troops  and  money  to  king  Augustus, 
whea  his  enemies  were  driving  him  from  his 
throne  ;  but  both  these  aids  proved  useless.  The 
Russians  having  joined  the  Lithuanians  in  the 
interest  of  Augustus,  were  totally  defeated  in 
Courland  by  the  Swedish  general  Levenhaupt  • 
(July  31.)  and  had  the  victors  directed  their  ef- 
forts towards  Livonia,  Ksthonia,  and  Ingria,  they 
might  have  destroyed  the  czar's  new  works,  and 
baffled  all  the  fruits  of  his  great  undertakings. 
Peter  was  every  day  sapping  the  breast-work  of 
Sw^eden,  while  Charles  seemed  to  neglect  ail  re- 
sistance, for  the  pursuit  of  a  less  advantageous, 
though  a  more  brilliant  fanoe. 

On  the  13th  of  July,  1704,  only  a  single 
Swedish  colonel,  at  the  head  of  his  detachment, 
obliged  the  Polish  nobility  to  nominate  a  new  king, 
on  the  field  of  election,  called  Kolo,  near  the  city 
of  Warsaw.  The  cardinal -primate  of  the  king- 
dom, and  several  bishops,  submitted  to  a  Lu- 
theran prince,  noiwith-taading  ihe  menaces  and 
excommunications  of  the  supreme  pontiff  :  in 
short,  every  thing  gave  way  to  force.  All  the 
world  knows  in  what  manner  Stanislaus  Leczin- 
sky  was  elected  king,  and  how  Charles  XIL 
obliged  the  greatest  part  of  Poland  to  acknow- 
ledge him. 

Peter,  however,  would  not  abandon  the  de- 
throned king,  but  redoubled  his  assistance,  in 
proportion  to  the  necessities  of  his  ally  ;  and, 
while  his  enemy  was  making  kings,  he  beat  the 
Swedish  generals  one  after  another  in  Esthonia 
and  Ingria  ;  from  thence  he  passed  to  the  siege 
of  Narva,  and  gave  several  vigorous  assaults  to 
the  town.  There  were  three  bastions,  famous  at 
least  for  their  names,  called  Victorv,  Hoboux,  and 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  141 

Glorj.  The  czar  carried  them  all  three  sword- 
in-hand.  The  besiegers  forced  their  way  into 
the  town,  where  they  pillaged  and  exercised  all 
those  cruelties  which  were  but  too  customary  at 
that  time,  between  the  Swedes  and  Russians. 

August  20.]  Peter,  on  this  occasion,  gave  an 
example  that  ought  to  have  gained  him  the  af- 
fections of  all  his  new  subjects  :  he  ran  every 
where  in  person,  to  put  a  stop  to  the  pillage  and 
slaughter,  rescues  several  women  out  of  the 
clutches  of  the  brutal  soldiery,  and,  after  having, 
with  his  own  hand,  killed  two  of  those  ruffians 
who  had  refused  to  obey  his  orders,  he  enters  the 
town-house,  whither  the  citizens  had  ran  in 
crowds  for  shelter,  and  laying  his  sword,  yet 
reeking  with  blood,  upon  the  table — '  This  sword,' 
said  he,  '  is  not  stained  with  the  blood  of  your 
fellow  citizens,  but  with  that  of  my  own  Boldier.s, 
which  1  have  spilt  to  save  your  lives'. 


CHAP.  XIV. 

Peter  theGreat  keeps  possession  of  all  Ingria.whileCharlee 
XII.  is  triumphant  in  other  places. — Rise  of  Menzikoff. 
— Petersburg  secured. — The  czar  executes  his  designs 
notwithstanding  the  victories  of  the  king  of  Sweden.* 

itn*      T^ETKR  being   now   master  of  all   In- 

l/O-t.      J.  .  /•         J      1  .      r 

gna,    conferred    the    government   of 

that  province  upon  Menzikoff;  and  at  the 
same  time  gave  him  the  title  of  prince,  and  the 
rank  of  major-general.  Pride  and  prejudice 
might,  in  other  countries,  find  means  to  gain- 
say,  that  a  pastry  cook's   boy  should  be  raised 

•  All  the  foregoing  chapters,  and  likewise  thoee  which 
fellow,  are  taken  from  the  journals  of  Peter  the  Great,  and 
the  papers  sent  me  from  Petersburg,  carefully  compared 
with  other  memoira. 


142  HISTORY  OF 

to  be  a  general  and  governor,  and  to  princely 
dignity  ;  but  Peter  had  already  accustonaed  his 
subjects  to  see,  without  surprise,  every  thing  given 
to  merit,  and  nothing  to  mere  nobility.  Menzikoff, 
by  a  lucky  accident,  had,  while  a  boy,  been  taken 
from  his  original  obscurity,  and  placed  in  the 
czar's  family,*  where  he  learnt  several  languages, 
and  acquired  a  knowledge  of  public  affairs,  both, 
in  the  cabinet  and  field  ;  and  having  found  means 
to  ingratiate  himself  with  his  master,  he  after- 
wards knew  how  to  render  himself  necessary. 
He  greatly  forwarded  the  works  at  Petersburg,  of 
which  he  had  the  direction  ;  several  brick  and 
stone-houses  were  already  built,  with  an  arsenal 
and  magazines  ;  the  fortifications  were  com- 
pleted, but  the  palaces  were  not  built  till  some 
time  afterwards. 

•  Menzikoff's  parents  were  vassals  of  the  monastery  d 
Cosmopoly  :  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  he  went  to  Moscow, 
and  was  taken  into  the  service  of  a  pastrj-  cook.  Hia 
pmplojment  was  singing  ballads,  and  crying  puffs  and 
cakes  about  the  streets.  One  da^-,  as  he  was  following 
this  occupation,  the  czar  happening  to  liear  him,  and  to 
be  diverted  with  one  of  his  songs.,  sent  for  him,  and  asked 
him  if  he  woald  sell  his  pies  and  his  basket  ?  The  boy 
answered,  that  his  business  was  to  sell  his  pits,  but  he 
must  ask  his  master's  leave  to  sell  his  basket  ;  ^et  as  every 
thing  belonged  to  his  prince,  his  majestj-  had  only  to  lay 
his  commands  upon  him.  The  czar  was  so  pleased  with 
this  answer,  that  he  immediately  ordered  him  to  court, 
where  Le  gave  him  at  first  a  mean  employment ;  but 
being  every  day  more  pleased  with  his  wit,  he  thought 
fit  to  place  him  about  his  person,  and  to  make  him  groom 
of  hisbf-dchamber,  from  whence  he  craduallj'  raised  him 
to  tha  highest  preferBients.  He  was  tall  and  well  shaped. 
At  his  first  coming  into  the  czar's  service,  heinlisted  in 
Le  Fort's  company,  and  acquired,  under  that  general's 
inetruciion,  such  a  degree  of  knowledge  and  skill,  as  en- 
abled him  to  command  armies,  and  to  become  one  of  the 
bravest  and  most  auccessful  generals  in  Russia. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  143 

Peter  was  scarcely  settled  in  Narva,  when  b« 
offered  fresh  succours  to  the  dethroned  king  of 
Poland  ;  he  promised  him  a  body  of  troops  over 
and  above  the  twelve  thousand  men  he  had  al- 
ready sent  him,  and  actually  dispatched  general 
Repnin  (Aug.  19.)  from  the  frontiers  of  Lithuania, 
with  six  thousand  horse,  and  the  same  number  of 
foot.  All  this  while  be  did  not  lose  sight  of  his 
colony  of  Petersburg:  the  buildings  went  on  very 
fast  ;  his  navy  encreased  daily  ;  several  ships 
and  frigates  were  on  the  stocks  at  Olmutz  ;  these 
he  took  care  to  see  finished,  and  brought  them 
himself  into  the  harbour  of  Petersburg. 

Oct.  11.]  Each  time  he  returned  to  Moscow, 
was  distinguished  by  triumphal  entries.  In  this 
manner  did  he  revisit  it  this  year,  from  whence 
he  made  only  one  excursion,  to  be  present  at  the 
launching  of  his  first  ship  of  eighty  guns  upon  the 
Woronitz,  (Dec.  30.)  of  which  ship  he  liiraseJf 
had  drawn  the  dimensions  the  preceding  year. 

Blay,  1703.]  As  soon  as  the  campaign  could 
be  opened  in  Poland,  he  hastened  to  the  army 
which  he  had  sent  to  the  assistance  of  Augustus, 
on  the  frontiers  of  that  kingdom  ;  but,  while  he 
was  thus  supporting  liis  ally,  a  Swedish  fleet  put 
to  sea,  to  destroy  Petersburg,  and  the  fortress  of 
Cronslot,  as  yet  hardly  finished.  This  fleet  con- 
sisted of  twenty -two  ships  of  war,  from  fifty-four 
to  sixty-four  guns  each,  besides  six  frigates,  two 
bomb-ketches,  and  two  fire-ships.  'Jhe  troops 
that  were  sent  on  this  expedition,  made  a  de- 
scent on  the  little  island  of  Kotin  ;  but  a  Russian 
colonel,  named  Tolhogwin,  who  commanded  a 
regiment  there,  ordered  his  soldiers  to  lie  down 
flat  on  their  bellies,  while  the  Swedes  were  com- 
ing on  shore,  and  then  suddenly  rising  up,  thej 
tlirew  in  so  brisk  and  well  directed  a  fire,  that 
the  Swedes  were  put  into  coDfusion,  and  forced 


144  HISTORY  OF 

to  retreat  with  the  utmost  precipitation  to  their 
ships,  leaving  behind  them  all  their  dead,  and 
upwards  of  three  hundred  prisoners.    (Juce  7.) 

However,  their  fleet  still  continued  hovering 
about  the  coast,  and  threatened  Petersburg.  They 
made  another  descent,  and  were  repulsed  as  be- 
fore (June  i'5.)  :  a  body  of  land-forces  were  also 
advancing  from  Wiburn,*  under  the  command 
of  the  Swedish  general  Meidel,  and  look  their 
route  by  Shlusselburg  :  this  was  the  most  con- 
siderable attempt  that  Charles  had  yet  made 
upon  those  territories,  which  Peter  had  either 
conquered  or  new  formed.  The  Swedes  were 
every  where  repulsed,  and  Petersburg  remained 
in  security. 

Peter,  on  the  other  hand,  advanced  towards 
Courland,  with  a  design  to  penetrate  as  far  as 
Riga.  His  plan  was  to  make  himself  master  or 
Livonia,  while  Charles  XII.  was  busied  in  re- 
ducing the  Poles  entirely  under  the  obedience  of 
the  new  king  he  had  given  them.  The  czar  was 
still  at  Wilnaw  in  Lithuania,  and  his  general 
Sheremeto  was  approaching  towards  Mittau,  the 
capital  of  Courland  ;  but  there  he  was  met  by 
general  Levenhaupt,  already  famous  by  several 
victories,  and  a  pitched  battle  was  fought  be- 
tween the  two  armies  at  a  place  called  Gema- 
vershoff,  or  Gemavers. 

In  all  those  actions  where  experience  and  dis- 
cipline decide  the  day,  the  Swedes,  though  in 
ferior  in  number,  had  the  advantage.  The  Rus- 
sians were   totally  defeated,  (June  28.)  and  lose 

•  M.  de  Voltaire  calls  this  citj-  Wibor.rq,  in  this  and 
some  other  places  of  his  history.  The  French  are  not 
always  very  attentive  to  the  right  names  of  places,  bnt 
iere  it  is  of  some  consequence.  Wibour^  is  the  capital 
jf  Jutland  in  Denmark.  Wiburn,  the  cit3'  here  meant, 
hi  tbe  capital  of  Carelia  in  Russian  Finland. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  145 

their  artillery.  Peter,  Tiotwithstanding  the  loss 
of  three  battles,  viz.  atGeiuavers,  at  Jacobstadt, 
and  at  Narva,  always  retrieved  his  losses,  and 
even  converted  them  to  his  advantage. 

After  the  battle  of  Gemavers,  he  marched  his 
array  into  Courland  ;  came  before  Mittau,  made 
himself  master  of  the  town,  and  afterwards  laid 
siege  to  the  citadel,  which  he  took  by  capitu- 
lation. 

Sept.  14,  1705.]  The  Russian  troops  at  that 
time  had  the  character  of  distinguishing  their 
successes  by  rapine  and  pillage  ;  a  custom  of  too 
great  antiquity  in  all  nations.  But  Peter,  at  the 
taking  of  Narva,  had  made  such  alterations  in 
this  custom,  that  the  Russian  soldiers  appointed 
to  guard  the  vaults  where  the  grand  dukes  of 
Courland  were  buried,  in  the- castle  of  Mittau, 
perceiving  that  the  bodies  had  been  taken  out  o! 
their  tombs,  and  stripped  of  their  ornaments,  re- 
fused to  take  possession  of  their  post,  till  a  Swe- 
dish colonel  had  been  first  sent  for  to  inspect  the 
condition  of  the  place  ;  who  gave  them  a  certi- 
ficate that  this  outrage  had  been  committed  by 
the  Swedes  themselves. 

A  rumour  which  was  spread  throughout  the 
•whole  empire,  that  the  czar  had  been  totally  de- 
feated at  the  battle  of  Gemavers,  proved  of  greater 
prejudice  to  his  affairs,  than  even  the  loss  of  that 
battle.  The  remainder  of  the  ancient  strelitzea 
in  garrison  at  Astracan,  emboldened  by  this  false 
report,  mutinied,  and  murdered  the  governor  of 
the  town.  Peter  was  obliged  to  send  marshal 
Sheremeto  with  a  body  of  forces  to  quell  thu 
insurrection,  and  punish  the  mutineers. 

Every  thing  seemed  now  to  conspire  against 
the  czar;  the  success  and  valour  of  Charles  XII.; 
the  misfortunes  of  Augustus  ;  the  forced  neutra- 
lity of  Denmark  j  the  insurrection  of  the  ancient 
G 


146  HISTORY  OF 

streiitzes  ;  the  murmurs  of  a  people,  seosible  of 
the  restraint,  but  not  of  the  utility  of  the  late  re- 
form ;  the  discontent  of  the  grandees,  who  found 
themselves  subjected  to  military  discipline  ;  and, 
lastly,  the  exhausted  state  of  the  finances,  were 
suflScient  to  have  discouraged  any  prince  except 
Peter  :  but  he  did  not  despond,  even  for  an  in- 
stant. He  soon  quelled  the  revolt,  and  having 
provided  for  the  safety  of  Ingria,  and  secured  the 
possession  of  the  citadel  of  IMittau,  in  spite  of 
the  victorious  Levenhaupt,  who  had  not  troops 
enough  to  oppose  him  ;  he  found  himself  at  li- 
berty to  march  an  army  through  Samojitia  and 
Lithuania. 

He  now  shared  with  Charles  XII.  the  glorj  of 
giving  laws  to  Poland.  He  advanced  as  far  as 
Tikoczin  :  where  he  had  an  interview  for  the 
second  time  with  king  Augustus  ;  when  he  en- 
deavoured to  comfort  him  under  his  misfortunes, 
promising  to  revenge  his  cause,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  made  him  a  present  of  some  colours,  which 
Menzikoff  had  taken  from  the  troops  of  his  rival. 
The  two  monarchs  afterwards  went  together  to 
Grodno,  the  capital  of  Lithuania,  where  they 
staid  till  the  15th  of  December.  At  their  parting. 
Peter  presented  him  both  men  and  money,  and 
then,  according  to  his  usual  custom,  went  to  pa.'S 
some  part  of  the  winter  at  Moscow,  (30  Dec.) 
to  encourage  the  arts  and  sciences  there,  and  to 
enforce  his  new  laws  there,  after  having  made  a 
very  difficult  and  laborious  campaign. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  147 

CHAP.  XV. 

^^ile  Peter  i»  strengthening  his  conquests,  and  im- 
proving the  police  of  his  dominion,  his  enemy  Charles 
XII.  gains  several  battles:  gives  laws  to  Poland  and 
Saxony,  and  to  Augustus,  notwithstanding  a  victory 
gained  by  the  Russians. — Augustus  resigns  the  crown, 
and  delivers  up  Patkul,  the  czar's  ambassador. — 
Murder  of  Patkul,  who  is  sentenced  to  be  broke  upon 
the  wheel. 

1706.  pETER  was  hardly  returned  to  Moscow, 
when  he  heard  that  Charles  XI [  after 
being  every  where  victorious,  was  advancing  to- 
wards Grodno,  to  attack  the  Russian  troops. 
King  Augustus  had  been  obliged  to  fly  from 
Grodno,  and  retire  with  precipitation  towards 
Saxony,  with  four  regiments  of  Russian  dragoons  ; 
a  step  which  both  weakened  and  discouraged  the 
army  of  his  protector.  Peter  found  all  the  ad- 
•vances  to  Grodno  occupied  by  the  Swedes,  and 
his  troops  dispersed. 

While  he  was  with  the  greatest  difficulty  as- 
sembling his  troops  in  Lithuania,  the  famous 
Schullemburg,  who  was  the  last  support  Augus- 
tus had  left,  and  who  afterwards  gained  so  much 
glory  by  the  defence  of  Corfu  against  the  Turks, 
was  advancing  on  the  side  of  Great  Poland,  with 
about  twelve  thousand  Saxons,  and  six  thousand 
Russians,  taken  from  the  body  troops  with  which 
the  czar  liad  entrusted  that  unfortunate  prince. 
ScliuUeinburg  expected  with  just  reason,  that 
he  should  be  able  to  prop  the  sinking  fortunes  of 
Augustus;  he  perceived  that  Charles  Xll.  was 
employed  in  Lithuania,  and  tbat  there  was  only 
a  body  of  ten  thousand  Swedes  under  general 
Renschild  to  interrupt  his  march  ;  be  therefore 
advanced  with  confidence  as  far  as  the  frontiers 
of  SiJesia;  which  is  the  passage  out  of  Saxony 


148  HISTORY  OF 

into  Upper  Poland.  When  he  came  near  the 
village  of  Fraustadt,  on  the  frontiers  of  that  king- 
dom, he  met  marshal  Renschiid,  who  was  ad- 
vancing to  give  him  battle. 

Whatever  care  1  take  to  avoid  repeating  what 
has  been  already  mentioned  in  the  history  of 
Charles  XH.,  I  am  obliged  in  this  place  to  take 
notice  once  more,  that  there  was  in  the  Saxon 
army  a  French  regiment,  that  had  been  taken  pri- 
soners at  the  famous  battle  of  Hochsted  (or  Blen- 
heim) and  obliged  to  serve  in  the  Saxon  troops. 
I\Iy  memoirs  say,  that  this  regiment  had  the 
charge  of  the  artillery,  and  add,  that  the  French, 
struck  with  the  fame  and  reputation  of  Charles 
XII.,  and  discontented  with  the  Saxon  service, 
laid  down  their  arms  as  soon  as  they  came  in 
sight  of  the  enemy  (Feb.),  and  desired  to  be 
taken  into  the  Swedish  army,  in  which  they  con- 
tinued to  the  end  of  the  war.  This  defection  was 
as  the  beginning,  or  signal  of  a  total  overthrow 
to  the  Russian  army,  of  which  no  more  than 
three  battalions  were  saved,  and  almost  every 
man  of  these  wns  wounded  ;  and  as  no  quarter 
w-as  granted,  the  remainder  was  cut  in  pieces. 

Norberg,  the  chaplain,  pretends,  that  the  Swe- 
dish word  at  this  battle  was,  '  In  toe  name  of 
God,'  and  that  of  the  Russians,  '  Kill  all;'  but 
it  was  the  Swedes  who  killed  all  in  God's  name. 
The  czar  himself  declares,  in  one  of  his  manifes- 
toes,* that  a  number  of  Russians,  Cossacks,  and 
Calmucks,  that  had  been  made  prisoners,  were 
murdered  in  cool  blood  three  days  after  that 
battle.  The  irregular  troops  on  both  sides  had 
accustomed  their  generals  to  these  cruelties, 
than  which  greater  were  never  committed  in  the 
most  barbarous  times.    I  had  the  honour  to  hear 

•  The  czar's  manifesto  in  the  LTiraine,  I709. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  149 

k^g  Stanislaus  himself  saj,  that  in  one  of  those 
engagements  which  were  so  frequent  in  Poland, 
a  Russian  officer  who  had  formerly  been  one  of 
his  friends,  came  to  put  himself  under  his  pro- 
tection, after  the  defeat  of  the  corps  he  com- 
manded ;  and  that  the  Swedish  general  Steinbock 
shot  him  dead  with  a  pistol,  while  he  held  hira 
in  his  arms. 

Ihis  was  the  fourth  battle  the  Russians  had 
lost  against  the  Swedes,  without  reckoning  the 
other  victories  of  Charles  XII.  in  Poland.  The 
czar's  troops  that  were  in  Grodno,  ran  the  risk 
of  suffering  a  still  greater  disgrace,  by  being  sur- 
rounded on  all  sides  ;  but  he  fortunately  found 
means  to  get  them  together,  and  even  to  strengthen 
them  with  new  reinforcements.  But  necessitated 
at  once  to  provide  for  the  safety  of  this  army, 
and  the  security  of  his  conquests  in  Ingria,  he 
ordered  prince  INIenzikoff  to  march  with  the  army 
under  his  command  eastward,  and  from  thence 
southward  as  far  as  Kiow. 

While  his  men  were  upon  their  march,  he  re- 
pairs to  Shiusselburg.  from  thence  to  Narva,  and 
to  his  colony  of  Petersburg  (August),  and  puts 
those  places  in  a  posture  of  defence.  From  the 
Baltic  he  flies  to  the  banks  of  the  Boristhenes, 
to  enter  into  Poland  by  the  way  of  Kiow,  making 
it  still  his  chief  care  to  render  those  victories  of 
Charles,  which  he  had  not  been  able  to  prevent, 
of  as  little  advantage  to  the  victor  as  possible. 
At  this  very  time  he  meditated  a  new  conquest ; 
namely,  that  of  Wibourg,  the  capital  of  Carelia. 
situated  on  the  gulf  of  Finland.  lie  went  in 
person  to  lay  siege  to  this  place,  but  for  this  time 
it  withstood  the  power  of  his  arms  ;  succours 
arrived  in  season,  and  he  was  obliged  to  raise  the 
siege.  (Oct.)  His  rival, Charles  XII.  did  not,  in 
Cact,  make  any  couijuests,  though  he  gained  so 

/ 


150  HISTORY  OF 

manj?  battles  :  he  was  at  that  time  in  pursuit  of 
king  Augustus  in  Saxony,  being  always  more  in- 
tent upon  humbling  that  prince,  and  crushing  him 
beneath  the  weight  of  his  superior  power  and  re- 
putation, than  upon  recovering  Ingria,  that  had 
been  wrested  from  him  by  a  vanquished  enemy. 

He  spread  terror  through  all  Upper  Poland, 
Silesia,  and  Saxony,  King  Augustus's  whole 
family,  his  mother,  his  wife,  his  son,  and  the 
principal  nobility  of  the  country,  were  retired 
into  the  heart  of  the  empire.  Augustus  now  sued 
for  peace,  choosing  rather  to  trust  himself  to  the 
mercy  of  his  conqueror,  than  in  the  arms  of  his 
protector.  He  entered  into  a  treaty  which  de- 
prived him  of  the  crown  of  Poland,  and  covered 
him  at  the  same  time  with  ignominy.  This  was 
a  private  treaty,  and  was  to  be  concealed  from 
the  czar's  generals,  with  whom  he  had  taken  re- 
fuge in  Poland,  while  Charles  XII.  was  giving 
laws  in  Leipsic,  and  acting  as  absolute  master 
throughout  his  electorate. 

His  plenipotentiaries  bad  uJready  signed  the 
fatal  treaty  (Sept.  11.),  by  which  he  not  only  di- 
vested himself  of  the  crown  of  Poland,  but  pro- 
mised never  more  to  assume  the  title  of  king  ; 
at  the  same  time  he  recognized  Stanislaus,  re- 
nounced his  alliance  with  the  czar  his  benefactor ; 
and,  to  complete  his  humiliation,  engaged  to  de- 
liver up  to  Charles  XII.  John  Reinold  Patkul,  the 
czar's  ambassador  and  general  in  the  Russian  ser- 
vice, who  was  then  actually  fighting  in  his  cause. 
He  had  some  time  before  ordered  Patkul  to  be 
arrested  upon  false  suspicions,  contrary  to  the 
law  of  nations  ;  and  now,  in  direct  violation  of 
these  laws,  he  delivered  hira  up  to  the  enemy. 
It  had  been  better  for  him  to  have  died  sword-in- 
hand,  than  to  have  concluded  such  a  treaty  •  a 
treaty,  which  not  only  robbed  him  of  his  crown, 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  151 

and  of  his  reputation,  but  likewise  endangered 
his  liberty,  because  he  was  at  that  time  in  the 
power  of  prince  Wenzikoff  in  Posnania,  and  the 
few  Saxons  that  he  had  with  him,  were  paid  by 
the  Russians. 

Prince  Menzikoflf  was  opposed  in  that  district 
by  a  Swedish  army,  reinforced  with  a  strong  party 
of  Poles,  in  the  interest  of  the  new  king  Stanis- 
laus, under  the  command  of  general  Meyerfeld  ; 
and  not  knowing  that  Augustus  had  engaged  in 
a  treaty  with  the  enemies  of  Russia,  had  pro- 
posed to  attack  them,  and  Augustus  did  not  dare 
to  refuse.  The  battle  was  fought  near  Calish 
(Oct.  19.),  in  the  palatinate  belonging  to  Stanis- 
laus ;  this  was  the  first  pitched  battle  the  Rus- 
sians had  gained  against  the  Swedes.  Prince 
MenzikofF  had  all  the  glory  of  the  action,  four 
thousand  of  the  enemy  were  left  dead  on  the  field, 
and  two  thousand  five  hundred  and  ninety-eight 
were  made  prisoners. 

It  is  difficult  to  comprehend  how  Augustus 
could  be  prevailed  on,  after  this  battle,  to  ratify 
a  treaty  which  deprived  him  of  all  the  fruits  of 
his  victory.  But  Charles  was  still  triumphant 
in  Saxony,  where  his  very  name  spread  terror. 
The  success  of  the  Russians  appeared  so  incon- 
siderable, and  the  Polish  party  against  Augustus 
was  so  strong,  and,  in  fine,  that  monarch  was  so 
ill-advised,  that  he  signed  the  fatal  convention. 
Neither  did  he  stop  here  :  he  wrote  to  his  envoy 
Finkstein  a  letter,  that  was,  if  possible,  more 
shanieful  than  the  treaty  itself;  for  therein  he 
asked  pardon  for  having  obtained  a  victory, 
*  protesting,  that  the  battle  had  been  fought 
against  his  will ;  that  the  Russians  and  the  Poles, 
his  adherents,  had  obliged  him  to  it;  that  he 
had,  with  a  view  of  preventing  it,  actually  made 
fiome  movements  to  abandon   Menzikoff;    that 


152  HISTORY  OF 

Meyerfeld  might  have  beaten  him,  had  he  made 
the'most  of  that  opportunity;  that  he  was  ready 
to  restore  all  the  Swedish  prisoners,  or  to  break 
vith  the  Russians  ;  and  that,  in  fine,  he  would 
give  the  king  of  Sweden  all  possible  satisfaction,' 
for  having  dared  to  beat  his  troops. 

This  whole  aflfair,  unparalleled  and  inconceiv- 
able as  it  is,  is,  nevertheless,  strictly  true.  When 
we  reflect,  that,  with  all  this  weakness,  Augustus 
was  one  of  the  bravest  pinces  in  Europe,  we 
may  plainly  perceive,  that  the  loss  or  jireserva- 
tion,  the  rise  or  declme  of  empires,  are  entirely 
owing  to  fortitude  of  mind. 

Two  other  circumstances  concurred  to  com- 
plete the  disgrace  of  the  king  of  Poland  elector 
of  Saxony,  and  heighten  the  abuse  which  Charles 
XII.  made  of  his  good  fortune  ;  the  first  was  his 
obliging  Augustus  to  write  a  letter  of  congratu- 
lation to  the  new  king  Stanislaus  on  his  election  : 
the  second  was  terrible,  he  even  compelled  Au- 
gustus to  deliver  up  Patkul,  the  czar's  ambassa- 
dor and  general.*  It  is  sufficiently  known  to 
all  Europe,  that    this   minister  was   afterwards 

•  The  impartiality  of  an  historian  obliges  us  in  this 
place  to  advertise  our  readers,  tliat  it  was  not  the  fault 
of  Augustus,  that  Patkul  -was  delivered  up  to  the  king 
of  Sweden  ;  Augustus  having  privatelj'  sent  orders  to 
the  commandant  of  the  fort  of  Konigstein,  where  Patkul 
was  then  confined,  to  suffer  his  prisoner  to  make  his  es- 
cape in  time.  But  the  avarice  of  this  officer  proved 
fatal  to  the  life  of  the  unhappj'  captive,  and  to  the  cha. 
racter  of  his  own  prince  ;  for  while  he  was  endeavour-- 
ing  to  make  the  best  bargain  he  could  for  himself,  the 
time  slipped  inconceivably  away ;  and  while  they  wen 
yet  debating  upon  the  price  of  the  proposed  releasement, 
the  guards  sent  by  Charles  came  and  demanded  Patkul 
in  the  name  of  their  sovereign.  The  commandant  waa 
forced  to  obey,  and  the  unhappy  victim  was  delivered 
up,  contrary  to  the  intentions  of  Aagustua. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  153 

brcke  alive  upon  the  wheel  at  Casimir,  in  the 
month  of  September,  1707.  Norberij,  the  chap- 
lain, confesses  that  tlie  orders  for  his  execution 
were  all  written  in  Charles's  own  baud. 

There  is  not  a  civilian  in  all  Europe,  nay 
even  the  vilest  slave,  but  must  feel  the  whole 
horror  of  this  barbarous  injustice.  The  first  crime 
of  this  unfortunate  man  was,  the  having  made 
an  humble  representation  of  the  rights  and  pri- 
vileges of  his  country,  at  the  head  of  six  Livo- 
nian  gentlemen,  who  were  sent  as  deputies  from 
the  whole  province  :  having  been  condemned 
to  die  for  fulfilling  the  first  of  duties,  that  of 
serving  his  country  agreeable  to  her  laws.  This 
iniquitous  sentence  put  him  in  full  possession  of 
a  right,  which  all  mankind  derive  from  nature, 
that  of  choosing  his  country.  Being  afterwards 
made  embassador  to  one  of  the  greatest  monarchs 
in  the  universe,  his  person  thereby  became  sacred. 
On  this  occasion  the  law  of  force  violated  that  of 
nature  and  nations.  In  former  ages  cruelties  of 
this  kind  were  hidden  in  the  blaze  of  success, 
but  now  they  sully  the  glory  of  a  conqueror. 


CHAP.  XYI. 

Attempts  made  to  set  up  a  third  king  of  Poland.— 
Charles  XII.  sets  out  from  Saxony  with  a  powerful 
army,  and  marches  throusjh  Poland  in  a  victorious  man- 
ner.— Cruellies  committed. — Conduct  of  the  czar. — 
Successfs  of  the  kini;  of  Sweden,  who  at  length  ad- 
vances towards  Russia. 

1707  C"'^^^'^^^  ^^^"  ^"j^y*^'^  ^^®  ^'■"'^^  o' 

his  good  fortune  in  Altranstadt  near 
Leipsic,  whiiher   the  Protestant  princes  of  the 
German  em{)ire  repaired  in  droves  to  pay  homage 
G  -i 


154  HISTORY  OF 

to  him,  and  implore  his  protection.  He  leceived 
ambassadors  from  almost  all  the  potentates  in 
Europe.  The  emperor  Joseph  implicitly  fol- 
lowed his  directions.  Peter  then  perceiving  that 
king  Augustus  had  renounced  his  protection  and 
his  own  crown,  and  that  a  part  of  the  Polish  na- 
tion had  acknowledged  Stanislaus,  listened  to  the 
proposals  made  him  by  Yolkova,  of  choosing  a 
third  king. 

A  diet  was  held  at  Lublin,  in  which  several  of 
the  pal atir.es  were  proposed  ;  and  among  others. 
Prince  Ragotski  was  put  upon  the  list ;  that 
prince,  who  was  so  long  kept  in  prison,  when 
young,  by  the  emperor  Leopold,  and  who  after- 
wards when  he  procured  his  liberty,  was  his  com- 
petitor for  the  throne  of  Hungary. 

This  negotiation  was  pushed  very  far,  and 
Poland  was  on  the  point  of  having  three  kings 
at  one  time.  Prince  Ragotski  not  succeeding, 
Peter  thought  to  bestow  the  crown  on  Siniauski, 
grand  general  of  the  republic  ;  a  person  of  great 
power  and  interest,  and  head  of  a  third  party, 
that  would  neither  acknowledge  the  dethroned 
king,  nor  the  person  elected  by  the  opposed 
party. 

In  the  midst  of  these  troubles,  there  was  a  talk 
of  peace,  as  is  customary  on  the  like  occasions. 
Besseval  the  French  envoy  in  Saxony  interposed, 
in  order  to  bring  about  a  reconciliation  between 
the  czar  and  the  king  of  Sweden.  Itwas  thought 
at  that  time  by  the  court  of  France,  that  Charles> 
having  no  longer  either  the  Russians  or  Poles  to 
fight  against,  might  turn  his  arms  against  the 
emperor  Joseph,  with  whom  he  was  not  on  very 
good  terms,  and  on  whom  he  had  imposed  se- 
veral laws  during  his  stay  in  Saxony.  But 
Charles  made  answer,  that  he  would  treat  with 
the  czar  in  Moscow.   It  was  on  this  occasion  that 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  155 

Peter  said,  '  My  brother  Charles  wants  to  act 
the  A.exander,  but  he  shall  not  find  a  Darius 
in  me.' 

The  Russians  however  were  still  in  Poland, 
and  were  in  the  city  of  Warsaw,  while  the  king 
whom  Charles  XII.  had  set  over  the  Poles  was 
hardly  acknowledged  by  that  nation.  In  the 
mean  time,  Charles  wa.s  enriching  his  army  with 
the  spoils  of  Saxony. 

Aug.  22.]  At  length  he  began  his  march  from 
Altranstadt,  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  forty-five 
thousand  men  ;  a  force  which  it  seemed  impos- 
sible for  the  czar  to  withstand,  seeing  he  had 
been  entirely  defeated  by  eight  thousand  only  at 
Narva. 

Aug.  27.]  It  was  in  passing  by  the  walls  of 
Dresden,  that  Charles  made  that  very  extra- 
ordinary visit  to  king  Augustus,  which,  as  Nor- 
berg  says,  '  will  strike  posterity  with  admiration.' 
It  was  running  an  unaccountable  risk,  to  put 
himself  in  the  power  of  a  prince  whom  he  had 
deprived  of  his  kingdom.  From  thence  he  con- 
tinued his  march  through  Silesia,  and  re-entered 
Poland. 

This  country  has  been  entirely  ravaged  by  war, 
ruined  by  factions,  and  was  a  prey  to  every  kind 
of  calamity.  Charles  continued  advancing  with 
his  army  through  the  province  of  Muscovia,  and 
chose  the  most  difficult  ways  he  could  take.  The 
inhabitants,  who  had  taken  shelter  in  the  mo- 
rasses, resolved  to  make  him  at  least  pay  for  bis 
passage  Six  thousand  peasants  dispatched  an 
old  man  of  their  body  lo  speak  to  him  :  this  man 
who  was  of  a  very  extraordinary  figure,  clad  in 
white,  and  armed  with  two  carabines,  made  a 
speech  to  Charles  ;  but  as  the  standers  by  did 
not  well  understand  what  he  said,  they,  without 
any  further  ceremony,  dispatched  him  in  his 


156  HISTORY  OF 

harangue,  and  before  their  king's  face.  The  pea- 
sants, in  a  rage,  immediately  withdrew,  and  took 
up  arms.  All  who  could  be  found  were  seized, 
and  obliged  to  hang  one  another  ;  the  last  was 
compelled  to  put  the  rope  about  his  neck  himself, 
and  tD  be  his  own  executioner.  All  their  houses 
were  burnt  to  the  ground.  This  fact  is  attested 
by  Norberg,  who  was  an  eye-witness,  and  there- 
fore cannot  be  contradicted,  as  it  cannot  be  re- 
lated without  inspiring  horror. 

1708,  Feb.  6.]  Charles  being  arrived  within  a 
few  leagues  of  Grodno  in  Lithuania,  is  inform- 
ed of  the  czar's  being  there  in  person  with 
a  body  of  troops  ;  upon  which,  without  staying 
to  deliberate,  he  takes  only  eight  hundred  of  his 
guards,  and  sets  out  for  Grodno.  A  German 
officer,  named  Mulfels,  who  commanded  a  body 
of  troops,  posted  at  one  of  the  gates  of  the 
town,  making  no  doubt,  when  he  saw  Charles, 
but  that  he  was  followed  by  his  whole  army,  in- 
stead of  disputing  the  passage  with  him,  leaves 
it  open,  and  takes  to  flight.  The  alarm  is  now 
spread  through  the  whole  town  ;  every  one  ima- 
gines the  whole  Swedish  army  already  entered  ; 
the  few  Russians  who  made  any  resistance,  are 
cut  in  pieces  by  the  Swedish  guards  ;  and  all  the 
officers  assure  the  czar,  that  the  victorious  array 
had  made  itself  master  of  the  place.  Hereupon 
Peter  retreats  behind  the  ramparts,  and  Charles 
plants  a  guard  of  thirty  men  at  the  very  gate 
through  which  the  czar  had  just  before  entered. 

In  this  confusion  some  of  the  Jesuits,  whose 
college  had  been  taken  to  accommodate  the  king 
of  Sweden,  as  being  the  handsomest  structure 
in  the  place,  went  by  night  to  the  czar,  and  for 
this  time  told  the  whole  truth.  Upon  this,  Peter 
immediately  returns  into  the  town,  and  forces  the 
Swedish  guards.     An  engagement  ensues  in  the 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  167 

streets  and  public  places ;  but,  at  length,  the 
whole  Swedish  army  appearing  in  sight,  the  czar 
is  obliged  to  yield  to  superior  numbers,  and 
leaves  the  town  in  the  hands  of  the  victor,  who 
made  all  Poland  tremble. 

Charles  had  augmented  his  forces  in  Livonia 
and  Finland,  and  Peter  had  every  thing  to  fear,  not 
only  for  his  conquests  on  this  side,  together  with 
those  in  Lithuania,  but  also  for  his  ancient  territo- 
ries, and  even  for  the  city  of  Moscow  itself.  He 
was  obliged  then  to  provide  at  once  for  the  safety  of 
all  these  different  places,  at  such  a  distance  from 
each  other.  Charles  couid  not  make  any  rapid 
conquest  to  the  eastward  of  Lithuania  in  the 
depth  of  winter,  and  in  a  marshy  country,  sub- 
ject to  epidemical  disorders,  which  had  been 
spread  by  poverty  and  famine,  from  Warsaw,  as 
farasMinski.  Peter  posted  his  troops  so  as  to  com- 
mand the  passes  of  the  rivers,  (April  8.)  guarded 
all  the  important  posts,  and  did  every  thing  in 
his  power  to  impede  the  marches  of  his  enemy, 
and  afterwards  has.tened  to  put  things  in  a  pro- 
per situation  at  Petersburg. 

Though  Charles  was  lording  it  in  Poland,  he 
took  nothing  from  the  czar;  but  Peter,  by  the 
use  he  marie  of  liis  new  fleet,  by  landing  his 
troops  in  Finland,  by  the  taking  and  dismantling 
the  town  of  Borgau,  (May  '^2.)  and  by  seizings 
great  booty,  was  ])rocuring  many  real  and  great 
advantages  to  himself,  and  distressing  his  enemy. 

Charles,  after  being  detained  a  long  time  m 
Lithuania,  by  continual  rains,  at  length  reached 
the  little  river  of  15erezine,  some  few  leagues 
from  the  Boristheues.  Nothing  couid  withstand 
his  activity  :  he  threw  a  bridge  over  the  river  in 
siglit  of  the  l^ussians  ;  beat  a  detachment  that 
guarded  the  passage,  and  got  to  lloloziii  on  the 
river  Bibitsch,  where  tlie  rzar  Imd  posceJ  aeon- 


158  HISTORY  OF 

siderable  body  of  troops  to  check  the  impetuous 
progress  of  his  rival.  The  little  river  of  Bibitsch 
is  onlv  a  small  brook  in  dry  weather  ;  but  at  this 
time  it  was  swelled  by  the  rains  to  a  deep  and 
rapid  scream.  On  the  other  side  was  a  morass, 
behind  which  the  Russians  had  thrown  up  an  in- 
trenchment  for  above  a  quarter  of  a  league,  de- 
fended by  a  large  and  deep  ditch,  and  covered 
by  a  parapet,  lined  with  artillery.  Nine  regi- 
ments of  horse,  and  eleven  of  foot,  were  advan- 
tageously posted  in  these  lines,  so  that  the  pas- 
sage of  the  river  seemed  impracticable. 

The  Swedes,  according  to  the  custom  of  war, 
got  ready  their  pontoons,  and  erected  batteries 
to  favour  their  passage  ;  but  Charles,  whose  im- 
patience to  engage  would  not  let  him  brook  the 
least  delay,  did  not  wait  till  the  pontoons  were 
ready.  ^Marshal  Schweriu,  who  served  a  long 
time  under  him,  has  assured  me  several  times, 
that  one  day  that  they  were  to  come  to  action,  ob- 
serving his  generals  to  be  very  busv  in  concerting 
the  necessary  dispositions,  said  tartly  to  them, 
'  When  will  you  have  done  with  this  trifling  V 
and  immediately  advanced  in  person  at  the  head 
of  his  guards,  which  he  did  particularly  on  this 
memorable  day. 

He  flung  himself  into  the  river,  followed  by  his 
regiment  of  guards.  Their  numbers  broke  the 
impetuosity  of  the  current,  but  the  water  was  as 
high  as  their  shoulders,  and  they  could  make  no 
use  of  their  firelocks.  Had  the  artillery  of  the 
parapet  been  but  tolerably  well  served,  or  had 
the  infantry  h\it  levelled  their  pieces  in  a  proper 
manner,  not  a  single  Swede  would  have  escaped. 

July  2.T.]  The  king,  after  wading  the  river, 
passed  the  morass  on  foot.  As  soon  as  the  army 
had  surmounted  these  obstacles  within  sight  of 
the  Russians,  they  drew  up  in  order  of  battle, 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  159 

and  attacked  the  enemies  intrenchments  seven 
different  times,  and  it  was  not  tilJ  the  seventh 
attack  that  the  Ilussians  gave  way.  By  the 
accounts  of  their  own  historians,  the  Swedes  took 
but  twelve  field-pieces,  and  twenty-four  mortars. 
It  was  therefore  evident,  that  the  czar  had  at 
length  succeeded  in  disciplining  his  troops,  and 
this  victory  of  Holozin,  while  it  covered  Charles 
XII.  with  glory,  might  have  made  him  sensible 
of  the  many  dangers  he  must  have  to  encounter 
in  adventurmg  into  such  distant  countries,  where 
his  army  could  march  only  in  small  bodies, 
through  woods,  morasses,  and  where  he  would 
be  obliged  to  fight  out  every  step  of  his  way ; 
but  the  Swedes,  being  accustomed  to  carry  all 
before  them,  dreaded  neither  danger  nor  fatigue* 


CHAP.  XVII. 


Charles  XII.  croBses  the  Boristhenes,  penetratek  into  the 
Ukraioe,  but  concerts  his  measures  badly. — One  of  his 
armies  is  defeated  by  Peter  the  Great ;  he  loses  his 
supply  of  provisions  and  ammunition  :  advances  for- 
ward through  a  desert  country  :  his  adventures  iu  the 
Ukraine. 

1708.  A  T  last  Charles  arrives  on  the  borders  of 
the  Boristhenes,  at  a  small  town  call- 
ed Mohilow.  'I'his  was  the  important  spot  where 
it  was  to  be  determined,  whether  he  should  di- 
rect his  inarch  eastward,  towards  Moscow  ;  or 
southwards,  towards  the  Ukraine.  His  owif 
army,  his  friends,  his  enemies,  all  expected  that 
he  would  direct  his  course  immediately  for  the 

•  What  would  those  Swedes  say,  were  they  living,  to 
se«  the  pitiful  figure  their  descendants  have  made  iu  this 


160  HISTORY  OF 

capital  of   Russia.     Which  ever  way  he  tool', 

Peter  was  following  him  from  Smolensko  with  a 
strong  army  ;  no  one  expected  that  he  would  turn 
towards  the  Ukraine.  He  was  induceito  take 
this  strange  resolution  by  Mazeppa,  hetman  of 
the  Cossacks,  who,  being  an  old  man  of  seventy 
and  without  children,  ought  to  have  thought  only 
of  ending  his  days  in  peace  :  gratitude  should 
have  bound  him  to  the  czar,  to  whom  he  was  in- 
debted for  his  present  dignity  ;  but  whether  he 
had  any  real  cause  of  complaint  against  that 
prince,  or  that  he  was  dazzled  with  the  lustre  of 
Charles's  exploits,  or  whether,  in  time,  he  thought 
to  make  himself  independent,  he  betrayed  his 
benefactor,  and  privately  espoused  the  interests 
of  the  king  of  Sweden,  flattering  himself  with  the 
hopes  of  engaging  his  whole  nation  in  a  rebellion 
with  himself. 

Charles  made  not  the  least  doubt  of  subduing 
the  Russian  empire, as  soon  as  his  troops  should 
be  joined  by  so  warlike  a  people  as  the  Cossacks. 
Mazeppa  was  to  furnish  him  with  what  provi- 
sions, ammunition,  and  artillery,  he  should  want ; 
besides  these  powerful  succours,  he  was  to  be 
joined  by  an  army  of  sixteen  or  seventeen  thou- 
sand men,  out  of  Livonia,  under  the  command  of 
general  Levenhaupt,  who  was  to  bring  with  him 
a  prodigious  quantity  of  warlike  stores  and  pro- 
visions. Charles  was  not  at  the  trouble  of  re- 
flecting, whether  the  czar  was  within  reach  of 
attacking  the  army,  and  depriving  him  of  these 
necessary  supplies.  He  never  informed  himself 
whether  Mazeppa  was  in  a  condition  to  observe 
his  promises  ;  if  that  Cossack  had  credit  enough 
to  change  the  disposition  of  a  whole  nation, 
who  are  generally  guided  only  by  their  own  opi- 
nion ;  or  whether  his  army  was  provided  with 
euificient  resources  in  case  of  an  accident  ;  but 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  161 

imagined,  if  Mazeppa  should  prove  deficient  in 
abilities  or  fidelity,  be  could  trust  in  his  own 
valour  and  good  fortune.  The  Swedish  army 
then  advanced  beyond  the  Boristhenes  towards 
the  Desna ;  it  was  between  these  two  rivers, 
that  he  expected  to  meet  with  Mazeppa.  His 
march  was  attended  with  many  difficulties  and 
dangers,  on  account  of  the  badness  of  the  road, 
and  the  many  parties  of  Russians  that  were 
hovering  about  these  regions. 

Sept.  11.]  MenzikoflF,  at  the  head  of  some 
horse  and  foot,  attacked  the  king's  advanced 
guard,  threw  them  into  disorder,  and  killed  a 
number  of  his  men.  He  lost  a  great  number  of 
his  own,  indeed,  but  that  did  not  discourage  him. 
Charles  immediately  hastened  to  the  field  of 
battle,  and  with  some  difficulty  repulsed  the 
Russians,  at  the  hazard  of  his  own  life,  by  en- 
gaging a  party  of  dragoons,  by  whom  he  was 
surrounded.  All  this  while  Mazeppa  did  not  ap- 
pear, and  provisions  began  to  grow  scarce.  The 
Swedish  soldiers,  seeing  their  king  share  in  all 
their  dangers,  fatigues,  and  wants,  were  not  dis- 
pirited ;  but  though  they  admired  his  courage, 
they  could  not  refrain  from  murmuring  at  his 
conduct. 

The  orders  which  the  king  had  sent  to  Leven- 
haupt  to  march  forward  with  all  haste,  to  join 
him  with  the  necessary  supplies,  were  not  deli- 
vered by  twelve  days  so  soon  as  they  should  have 
been.  This  was  a  long  delay  as  circumstances 
then  stood.  However,  Levenhauj)t  at  length 
began  his  march  ;  Peter  suffered  him  to  pass  the 
Boristheoes,  but  as  soon  as  his  army  was  got 
between  that  river  and  the  lesser  ones,  which 
empty  themselves  into  it,  he  crossed  over  after 
him,  and  attacked  him  with  his  united  forces, 
which  had  followed  \n  ditierent  corps  at  equal 


Id2  HISTORY  OF 

distances  from  one  another.  This  battle  was 
fought  between  the  Boristhenes  and  the  Sossa.* 

Prince  Menzikoflf  was  upon  his  return  with  the 
same  body  of  horse,  with  which  he  had  lately  en- 
gaged Charles  XII.  General  Baur  followed  him, 
and  the  czar  himself  headed  the  flower  of  his 
army.  The  Swedes  imagined  they  had  to  deal 
■with  an  army  of  forty  thousand  men,  and  the 
same  was  believed  for  a  long  time  on  the  faith 
of  their  relation  ;  but  my  late  memoirs  inform 
me,  that  Peter  had  only  twenty  thousand  men  in 
this  day's  engagement,  a  number  net  much  su- 
perior to  that  of  the  enemy  :  but  his  vigour,  his 
patience,  his  unwearied  perseverance,  together 
with  that  of  his  troops,  animated  by  his  presence, 
decided  the  fate,  not  of  that  day  only,  but  of 
three  successive  days,  daring  which  the  fight  was 
renewed  at  different  times. 

They  made  their  first  attack  upon  the  rear  of 
the  Swedish  army,  near  the  village  of  Lesnau, 
from  whence  this  battle  borrows  its  name.  This 
first  shock  was  bloody,  without  proving  decisive. 
Levenhaupt  retreated  into  a  wood,  and  thereby 
saved  his  baggage.  (Oct.  7.)  The  next  morning, 
when  the  Swedes  were  to  be  driven  from  this 
wood,  the  fig't  was  still  more  bloody,  and  more 
to  the  advantage  of  the  Russians.  Here  it  was 
that  the  czar,  seeing  his  troops  in  disorder,  cried 
out  to  fire  upon  the  runaways,  and  even  upon 
himself,  if  they  saw  him  turn  back.  The  Swedes 
were  repulsed,  but  not  thrown  into  confusion. 

At  length  a  reinforcement  of  four  thousand 
dragoons  arriving,  he  fell  upon  the  Swedes  a 
third  time,  who  retreated  to  a  small  town  called 
Prospock,  where  they  were  again  attacked  ;  they 
then  marched  towards  the  Desna,  the  R'jssians 

•  In  the  Russiaji  language,  Soeza. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  16S 

*till  pursuing  them  :  yet  they  were  never  broken, 
but  lost  upwards  of  eight  thousand  men,  seven- 
teen pieces  of  cannon,  and  forty-four  colours  : 
the  czar  took  fifty-six  officers  and  near  nine  hun- 
dred private  men  prisoners  ;  and  the  great  con- 
voy of  provisions  and  ammunition  that  were 
going  to  Charles's  army,  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  conqueror.  ^ 

This  was  the  first  time  that  the  czar  in  person 
gained  a  pitched  battle,  agaiusr  an  enemy  who 
had  distinguished  himself  by  so  many  victories 
over  his  troops :  he  was  employed  in  a  general 
thanksgiving  for  his  success,  when  he  received 
advice  that  general  Apraxin  had  lately  gained 
an  advantage  over  the  enemy  in  lugria,  (Sept. 
17,)  some  leagues  from  Narva,  an  advantage 
less  considerable  indeed  than  that  of  Lesnau; 
but  this  concurrence  of  fortunate  events  greatly 
raised  the  hopes  and  courage  of  his  troops. 

Charles  XII.  heard  of  these  unfortunate  tidings 
just  as  he  was  ready  to  pass  the  Desna,  in  the 
Ukraine.  Mazeppa  at  length  joined  him  ;  but 
instead  of  twenty  thousand  men,  and  an  im- 
mense quantity  of  provisions ;  which  he  was  to 
have  brought  with  him,  lie  came  with  only  two 
regiments,  and  appeared  rather  like  a  fugitive 
applying  for  assistance,  than  a  prince,  who  was 
bringing  powerful  succours  to  his  ally.  This 
Cossack  had  indeed  begun  his  march  with  near 
fifteen  or  sixteen  thousand  of  his  people,  whom 
he  had  told,  at  their  first  setting  out,  that  they 
were  going  against  the  king  of  Sweden  ;  that  they 
would  have  the  glory  of  stopping  that  hero  on  his 
march,  and  that  be  would  hold  himself  eternally 
obliged  to  them  for  so  great  a  service. 

But  when  they  carne  v/ithin  a  few  leagues  of  the 
Desna,  he  made  them  acquainted  with  his  real 
design.     These  brave  people  received  his  decia- 


164  HISTORY  OF 

ration  with  disdain  :  they  refused  to  betray  a 
monarch,  against  whom  they  had  no  cause  of 
complaint,  for  the  sake  of  a  Swede,  who  had  in- 
vaded their  country  with  an  armed  force,  and 
who,  after  leaving  it,  would  be  no  longer  able  to 
defend  them,  but  must  abandon  them  to  the 
mercy  of  the  incensed  Russians,  and  of  the  Poles, 
once  their  masters,  and  dhvays  their  enemies : 
they  accordingly  returned  home,  and  gave  advice 
to  the  czar  of  the  defection  of  their  chief :  Ma- 
zeppa  found  himself  left  with  only  two  regiments, 
the  officers  of  which  were  in  his  own  pay. 

He  was  still  master  of  some  strong  posts  in  the 
Ukraine,  and  in  particular  of  Bathurin,  the  place 
of  his  residence,  looked  upon  as  the  capital  of 
the  country  of  the  Cossacks  :  it  is  situated  near 
some  forests  on  the  Desna,  at  a  great  distance 
from  the  place  where  Peter  had  defeated  general 
Levenbaupt.  There  were  always  some  Russian 
regiments  quartered  in  these  districts.  Prince 
MenzikofF  was  detached  from  the  czar's  army, 
and  got  thither  by  round-about  marches.  Charles 
could  not  secure  all  the  passes  ;  he  did  not  even 
know  them  all,  and  had  neglected  to  make  him- 
self master  of  the  important  post  of  Starowdoub, 
which  leads  directly  to  the  Bathurin,  across  seven 
or  eight  leagues  of  forest,  through  which  the 
Desna  directs  its  course.  His  enemy  had  always 
the  advantage  of  him,  by  being  better  acquainted 
with  the  country. 

MenzikofF  and  prince  Galitzin,  who  had  ac- 
companied him,  easily  made  their  passage  good, 
and  presented  themselves  before  the  town  of 
Bathurin,  (Nov.  14,)  which  surrendered  almost 
without  resistance,  was  plundered,  and  reduced 
to  ashes.  The  Russians  made  themselves  mas- 
ters of  a  large  magazine  destined  for  the  use  of 
the  king  of  Sweden,  and  of  all  Mazeppa's  trea- 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  165 

sores.  TTie  Cossacks  chose  another  hetraan, 
named  Skoropasky,  who  was  approved  by  the 
czar,  who  being  willing  to  impress  a  due  sense  of 
the  enormous  crime  of  treason  on  the  minds  of 
the  people,  by  a  striking  example  of  justice,  the 
archbishop  of  Kiow,  and  two  other  prelates, 
were  ordered  to  excommunicate  Mazeppa  pub- 
licly, (Nov.  22,)  after  which  he  was  hanged  in 
effigy,  and  some  of  his  accomplices  were  broken 
upon  the  wheel. 

In  the  meanwhile,  Charles  XII.  still  at  the 
head  of  about  twenty-five  or  twenty- seven  thou- 
sand Swedes,  who  were  reinforced  by  the  re- 
mains of  Levenhaupt's  army,  and  the  addition 
of  between  two  or  three  thousand  men,  whom 
Mazeppa  had  brought  with  him,  and  still  infa- 
tuated with  the  same  notion  of  making  all  the 
Ukraine  declare  for  him,  passed  the  Desna  at 
some  distance  from  Bathurin,  and  near  the  Bo- 
risthenes,  in  spite  of  the  czar's  troops  which  sur- 
rounded him  on  all  sides;  part  of  whom  followed 
close  in  the  rear,  while  another  part  lined  the 
opposite  side  of  the  river  to  oppose  his  passage. 

He  continued  his  march  through  a  desert 
country,  where  he  met  with  nothing  but  burned 
or  ruined  villages.  The  cold  began  to  set  in  at 
the  beginning  of  December  so  extremely  sharp, 
that  in  one  of  Ins  marches  near  two  thousand  of 
bis  men  perished  before  his  eyes  :  the  czar's 
troops  did  not  suffer  near  so  much,  being  better 
supplied  ;  whereas  the  king  of  Sweden's  army, 
being  almost  naked,  was  necessarily' more  ex- 
posed to  the  inclemency  of  the  weather. 

In  this  deplorable  situation,  count  Piper, 
chancellor  of  Sweden,  who  never  gave  his  master 
other  than  good  advice,  conjured  him  to  halt,  and 
pass  at  least  the  severest  part  of  the  winter  in  a 
small  town  of  the  Ukraine, called  Romna,  where 


166  HISTORY  OF 

he  might  intrench  himself,  and  get  some  provi- 
sions by  the  help  of  Mazeppa  ;  but  Charles  re- 
plied, tiiat — He  was  not  a  person  to  shut  him- 
self up  in  a  town.  Piper  then  intreated  him  to 
re-pass  the  Desna  and  the  Boristhenes,  to  return 
back  into  Poland,  to  put  his  trooj'S  into  winter 
quarters,  of  which  they  stood  so  much  in  need, 
to  make  use  of  the  Polish  cavalry,  which  was 
absolutely  necessary;  to  support  the  king  he  had 
nominated,  and  to  keep  in  awe  the  partisans  of 
Augustus,  who  began  already  to  bestir  them- 
selves. Charles  answered  him  again — That  this 
would  be  living  before  the  czar,  that  the  season 
would  grow  milder,  and  that  he  must  reduce  the 
Ukraine,  and  march  on  to  Moscow.  * 

January,  1709.]  Both  armies  remained  some 
weeks  inactive,  on  account  of  the  intenseness  of 
the  cold,  in  the  month  of  January,  1709;  but  as- 
soon  as  the  men  were  able  to  make  use  of  their 
arms,  Charh  s  attacked  all  the  small  posts  that  he 
found  in  his  way ;  he  was  obliged  to  send  parties 
on  every  side  in  search  of  provisions  :  thra  is  to 
say.  to  scour  the  country  twenty  leagues  round, 
and  rob  all  the  peasants  of  their  necessary  sub- 
sistence.  Peter,  without  hurrying  himself,  kept 
a  strict  eye  upon  all  his  motions,  and  suffered 
the  Swedish  army  to  dwindle  away  by  degrees. 

It  is  impossible  for  the  reader  to  follow  the 
Swedes  in  their  march  through  these  countries  : 
several  of  the  rivers  which  they  crossed  are  not 
to  be  found  in  the  maps  :  we  must  not  suppose, 
that  geographers  are  as  well  acquainted  with 
these  countries,  as  we  are  with  Italy,  France,  and 
Germany  :  geography  is,  of  all  the  arts,  that 
which  still  stands  the  most  need  of  improvement . 
and  ambition  has  hitherto  been  at  more  pains  to 

•  This  is  acknowledged  by  Norberg  himself, 
vol.  ii.  p.  263. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  167 

desolate  the  face  of  the  globe,  than  to  give  a  do- 
scription  of  it. 

We  must  content  ourselves  then  wiih  knowing, 
that  Charles  traversed  the  whole  Ukraine  in  the 
month  of  February,  burning  the  villages  wherever 
he  came,  or  meeting  with  others  that  had  been 
laid  in  ashes  by  the  Russians.  He  advancing 
south-east,  came  to  those  sandy  deserts,  bordered 
by  mountains  that  separate  the  Nogay  Tartars 
from  the  Don  Cossacks.  To  the  eastward  of 
those  mountains  are  the  altars  of  Alexander. 
Charles  was  now  on  the  other  side  of  the  Ukraine, 
in  the  road  that  the  Tartars  take  tc  Russia ;  and 
when  he  was  got  there,  he  was  obliged  to  return 
back  again  to  procure  subsistence  :  the  inhabi- 
tants, having  retired  with  all  their  cattle  into 
their  dens  and  lurking-places,  would  sometimes 
defend  their  subsistence  against  the  soldiers,  who 
came  to  deprive  them  of  it.  Such  of  these  poor 
wretches,  who  could  be  found,  were  put  to  death, 
agreeably  to  what  are  falsely  called,  the  rules  of 
war.  I  cannot  here  forbear  transcribing  a  few 
lines  from  Norberg.*  '  As  an  instance,'  says  he, 
•  of  the  king's  regard  to  justice,  I  shall  insert  a 
note,  which  he  wrote  with  his  own  hand  to  colonel 
Heilmen. 

*  Colonel, 
•  I  am  very  well  pleased  that  you  have  taken 
those  peasants,  who  carried  off  a  Swedish  soldier; 
as  soon  as  they  are  convicted  of  the  crime,  let 
them  be  punished  with  death,  according  to  the 
exigency  of  the  case. 

'  Charles;  and  lower  down,  Budis.' 

Such  are  the  sentiments  of  justice  and  hu- 
manity shewn  by  a  king's  confepsor  ;  but,  had  the 
peasants  of  the  Ukraine  had  it  in  their  power  to 

•  VoL  1 1 .  page  '^79- 


168  HISTORY  OF 

hang  up  some  of  those  regimented  peasants  of 
East  Gothland,  who  thought  themselves  entitled 
to  come  so  far  to  plunder  them,  their  wives,  and 
families,  of  their  subsistence,  would  not  the  con- 
fessors and  cliaplains  of  these  Ukrainers  have 
had  equal  reason  to  applaud  their  justice  ^ 

Mazeppa  had  for  a  considerable  time,  been  in 
treaty  with  the  Zaporavians,  who  dwell  about  the 
two  shores  of  the  Boristhenes,  and  of  whom  part 
inhabit  the  islands  on  that  river.  It  is  this  di- 
vision that  forms  the  nation,  of  whom  mention 
has  already  been  made  in  the  first  chapter  of  this 
history,  and  who  have  neither  wives  nor  families, 
and  subsist  entirely  by  rapine.  During  the  winter 
they  heap  up  provisions  in  their  islands,  which 
they  afterwards  go  and  sell  in  the  summer,  in  the 
lif.tle  town  of  Pultowa ;  the  rest  dwell  in  small 
hamlets,  to  the  right  and  left  of  this  river.  AH 
together  choose  a  particular  hetman,  and  this  het- 
man  is  subordinate  to  him  of  the  Ukraine.  I'he 
person ,  at  that  time  at  the  head  of  the  Zaporavians, 
came  to  meet  Mazeppa ;  and  these  two  barbarians 
had  an  interview,  at  which  each  of  them  had 
A  horse's  tail,  and  a  club  borne  before  him,  as 
ensigns  of  honour. 

To  shew  what  this  hetman  of  the  Zaporavians 
and  his  people  were,  I  think  it  not  unworthy  of 
history,  to  relate  the  manner  in  which  this  treaty 
was  concluded.  Mazeppa  gave  a  great  feast  to 
the  hetman  of  the  Zaporavians,  and  his  principal 
officers,  who  were  all  served  in  plate.  As  soon 
as  these  chiefs  had  made  themselves  drunk  with 
brandy,  tbey  took  an  oath  (without  stirring  from 
table)  upon  the  Evangelists,  to  supply  Charles 
with  men  and  provisions  ;  after  which  they 
.-arried  off  all  the  plate  and  other  table-furniture. 
Mazeppa's  steward  ran  after  them,  and  remon- 
strated, that  such  behaviour  ill-suited  with   the 


PETER  THE  GREAT  169 

doctrine  of  the  Gospels,  on  which  they  had  so 
lately  sworn.  Some  of  Mazeppa's  domestics 
were  for  taking  the  plate  away  from  them  by 
force  ;  but  the  Zaporavians  went  in  a  body  to 
romplain  to  3Iazeppa,  of  the  unparalleled  aflfront 
offered  to  &uch  brave  fellows,  and  demanded  to 
have  the  steward  delivered  up  to  them,  that  they 
might  punish  him  according  to  law.  This  was 
accordingly  complied  with,  and  the  Zaporavians, 
according  to  law,  tossed  this  poor  man  from  one 
to  another  like  a  ball,  and  afterwards  plunged 
a  knife  to  his  heart. 

Such  were  the  new  allies  that  Charles  XII. 
was  obliged  to  receive  ;  part  of  whom  he  formed 
into  a  regiment  of  two  thousand  men  ;  the  re- 
mainder marched  in  separate  bodies  against  the 
Cossacks  and  Calmucks  of  the  czar*s  party,  that 
were  stationed  about  that  district. 

The  little  town  of  Pultowa,  with  which  those 
Zaporavians  carry  on  a  trade,  was  filled  with 
provisions,  and  might  have  served  Charles  for  a 
place  of  arms.  It  is  situated  on  the  river  Worsk- 
law,  near  a  chain  of  mountains,  wuich  command 
it  on  the  north  side.  To  the  eastward  is  a  vast 
desert.  The  western  part  is  the  most  fruitful ,  and 
the  best  peopled.  The  Worsklaw  empties  itself 
into  the  Bonsthenes,  about  fifteen  leagues  lower 
down  ;  from  Pultowa,  one  may  go  northward, 
through  the  defiles,  which  communicate  with  the 
road  to  Moscow,  a  pa.ssage  used  by  the  Tartars. 
It  is  very  difficult  of  access,  and  the  precautions 
taken  by  the  czar  had  rendered  it  almost  im- 
pervious ;  but  nothing  appeared  impossible  to 
Charles,  and  he  depended  upon  marching  to 
Moscow,  as  soon  as  he  had  made  hmself  master 
of  Pultowa  :  with  this  view  he  laid  siege  to  that 
town  in  the  beginning  of  May. 

H 


170  HISTORY  OF 


CHAP.    XVIII. 


Battle  of  Pultowa. 


H' 


[ERE  it  was  that  Peter  expected  him  ;  he  had 
disposed  the  several  divisions  of  his  army 
at  convenient  distances  for  joining  each  other, 
and  marching  all  together  against  the  hesiegers: 
he  had  visited  the  countries  which  surround  the 
I'kraine  ;  namely  the  duchy  of  Severia,  watered 
by  the  P'esna,  aheady  made  famous  by  his  vic- 
tory :  the  country  ol  Bolcho,  in  which  the  Occa 
has  its  source  ;  the  deserts  and  mountains  leading 
to  the  Palus  Maeotis  ;  and  lately  he  had  been  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Azoph,  where  he  caused 
that  harbour  to  be  cleansed,  new  ships  to  be  built, 
and  the  citadel  of  Taganroc  to  be  repaired.  Thus 
did  he  employ  the  time  tha'  passed  between  the 
battles  of  Lesnau  and  Pultowa,  in  preparing  for 
the  defence  of  his  dominions.  As  soon  as  he 
heard  the  Swedes  had  laid  siege  to  the  town,  he 
^:uslered  all  his  forces  ;  the  horse,  dragoons,  in- 
fantry, Cossacks,  and  Calmucks,  advanced  from 
diflferent  quarters.  His  army  was  well  provided 
with  necessaries  of  every  kind ;  large  cannon, 
iield  pieces,  ammunition  of  all  sorts,  provisions, 
and  even  medicines  for  the  sick  :  this  was  another 
degree  of  superiority  which  he  had  acquired  over 
his  rival. 

On  the  loth  day  of  June,  1709,  he  appeared 
before  Pultowa,  with  an  army  of  about  sixty 
thousand  effective  men  ;  the  river  Worsklaw 
was  between  him  and  Charles.  The  besiegers 
vvfie  encamped  on  the  uorth-weet  side  of  thai 
r!v<  r,  iIr-  Russians  on  the  south-east. 

Peter  ascends  the  river  above  the  town,  fixes 
Ins  barges,  marches  over  with  his  army,  and 
draws  a  long  line   of  intreachments,  (July  3.) 


PEfER  THE  GREAT.  I7i 

which  were  begun  and  completed  in  one  night, 
in  the  face  of  the  enemy.  Charles  might  tben 
judge,  whether  the  person,  whom  he  had  so 
much  despised,  and  whom  he  thought  of  de- 
throning at  Moscow,  understood  the  art  of  war. 
"This  disposition  being  made,  Pe'er  posted  his 
cavalry  between  two  woods,  and  covered  it  with 
several  redoubts,  lined  with  artillery.  Having 
thus  taken  all  the  necessary  measures,  (July  6.) 
he  went  to  reconnoitre  the  enemy's  camp,  in 
order  to  form  the  attack. 

This  battle  was  to  decide  the  fate  of  Russia, 
Poland,  and  Sweden,  and  of  two  monarchs,  on 
whom  the  eyes  of  all  Europe  were  fixed.  The 
greatest  part  of  those  nations,  who  were  atten- 
tive to  these  important  concerns,  were  equally 
ignorant  of  the  place  where  these  two  princes 
where,  and  of  their  situation  :  but  knowing  that 
Charles  XII.  had  set  out  from  Saxony,  at  the 
head  of  a  victorious  army,  and  that  he  was 
driving  his  enemy  everywhere  before  him,  they 
no  longer  doubted  that  he  would  at  length  en- 
tirely crush  him  ;  and  that,  as  he  had  already 
given  laws  to  Denmark,  Poland,  and  Germany, 
he  would  now  dictate  conditions  of  peace  in  the 
Kremlin  of  Moscow,  and  make  anew  czar,  after 
having  already  made  anew  king  of  Poland.  I 
have  seen  letters  from  several  public;  ministers 
to  their  respective  courts,  confirming  this  general 
opinion. 

The  risk  was  far  from  being  equal  between 
these  two  great  rivals,  if  Charh  s  lost  a  life, 
which  he  had  so  often  and  wantonly  exposed, 
theri"  would  after  all  have  been  but  one  hero  less 
in  the  world.  The  provinces  of  the  Ukraine, 
the  frontiers  of  Lithuania,  and  of  Russia,  would 
tht^n  rest  from  their  calamities,  and  a  stop  would 
be  put  to  the  general  devastation  which  had  eo 


irS  HISTORY  OF 

long  been  their  scourge.  Poland  would,  to- 
gether with  her  tranquillity,  recover  her  lawful 
prince,  who  had  been  lately  reconciled  to  the 
czar,  his  benefactor  ;  and  Sweden,  though  ex- 
hausted of  men  and  money,  might  find  motives 
of  consolation  under  her  heavy  losses. 

But,  if  the  czar  perished,  those  immense 
labours,  which  had  been  of  such  utility  to  man- 
kind, would  be  buried  with  him,  and  the  most 
extensive  empire  ic  the  world  would  again  re- 
lapse into  the  chaos  from  whence  it  had  been  so 
lately  taken. 

There  had  already  been  some  skirmishes  be- 
tween the  detached  parties  of  the  Swedes  and 
Russians,  under  the  walls  of  the  town.  In  one 
of  these  rencounters,  (June  27.)  Charles  had  been 
wounded  by  a  musket-ball,  which  had  shattered 
the  bones  of  his  foot :  he  underwent  several 
painful  operations,  which  he  bore  with  his  usual 
fortitude,  and  had  been  confined  to  his  bed  for 
several  days.  In  this  condition  he  was  in- 
formed, that  Peter  intended  to  give  him  battle  ; 
his  notions  of  honour  would  not  suflPer  him  to 
wait  to  be  attacked  in  his  intrenchments.  Ac- 
cordingly he  gave  orders  for  quitting  them,  and 
was  carried  himself  in  a  litter.  Peter  the  Great 
acknowledges,  that  the  Swedes  attacked  the 
redoubts,  lined  with  artillery,  that  covered  his 
cavalry,  with  such  obstinate  valour,  that,  not- 
withstanding the  strongest  resistance,  supported 
by  a  continual  fire,  the  enemy  made  themselves 
masters  of  two  redoubts.  Some  writers  say, 
that  when  the  Swedish  infantry  found  them- 
selves in  possession  of  the  two  redoubts,  they 
thought  the  day  their  own,  and  began  to  cry 
out — Victory.  The  chaplain,  Norberg,  who  was 
at  some  great  distance  from  the  field  of  battle, 
amongst  the  baggage   (which  wai   indeed  his 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  173 

propel  place)  pretends,  that  this  was  a  calumny  ; 
but,  whether  the  Swedes  cried  victory  or  n»t,  it 
is  certain  they  were  not  victorious.  The  fire 
from  the  other  redoubts  was  kept  up  without 
censing,  and  the  resistance  made  bv  the  Russians, 
in  every  part,  was  as  firm  as  the  attack  of  their 
enemies  was  vigorous.  They  did  not  make  one 
irregular  movement ;  the  czar  drew  up  his  army 
without  the  intrenchraents  in  excellent  order, 
and  with  surprising  dispatch. 

The  battle  now  became  general.  Peter  acted 
as  major-general  ;  Baur  commanded  the  right 
wing,  Menzikolf  the  left,  and  iSheremeto  the 
centre.  The  action  lasted  about  two  hours : 
Charles,  with  a  pistol  in  his  hand,  went  from 
rank  to  rank,  carried  in  a  litter,  on  the  shoulders 
of  his  drabans  ;  one  of  which  was  killed  by  a 
cannun-ball,  and  at  the  same  time  the  litter  was 
shattered  in  pieces.  He  then  ordered  his  men 
to  carry  him  upon  their  pikes  ;  for  it  would 
have  been  difficult,  in  so  smart  an  action,  let 
Norberg  say  as  he  pleases,  to  find  a  fresh  litter 
ready  made.  Peter  received  several  shots 
through  his  clothes  and  his  hat ;  both  princes 
were  continually  in  the  midst  of  the  fire,  during 
the  whole  action.  At  length,  after  two  hours 
desperate  engagement,  the  Swedes  were  taken 
on  all  sides,  and  fell  into  confusion  ;  so  that 
Charles  was  obliged  to  fly  before  him,  whom 
he  had  hitherto  held  in  so  much  contempt. 
This  very  hero,  who  could  not  mount  his  saddle 
during  the  battle,  now  fled  for  his  life  on  horse- 
hack  ;  necessity  lent  bini  strength  in  his  retreat; 
he  suffered  the  most  excruciating  pain,  which 
was  increased  by  the  mortifying  reflection  of 
being  vai;quisli{d  without  resource.  The  Rus- 
sian^i  reckoned  nine  thousand  two  hundred  and 
t^^'ent}'-four   Swedes   left  dead   on  the   field  ot 


174  HISTORY  OF 

battle,  and  between  two  and  three  thousand 
made  prisoners  in  the  action,  the  chief  of  which 
was  cavalry. 

Charles  XII.  fled  with  the  greatest  precipita- 
tion, attended  by  the  remains  of  his  brave  army, 
a  few  field-pieces,  and  a  very  small  quantity  of 
provisions  and  ammunition.  He  directed  his 
march  southward,  towards  the  Boristhenes,  be- 
tween the  two  rivers  Workslaw  and  Psol.  or 
Sol,  in  the  country  of  the  Zaporaviaus.  Be- 
yond the  Boristhenes,  are  vast  deserts,  which 
lead  to  the  frontiers  of  Turkey.  Norberg  affirms, 
that  the  victors  durst  not  pursue  Charles  ;  and 
yet  be  acknowledges,  that  prince  Menzikoff 
appeared  on  the  neighbouring  heights,  (.'ulv  12.) 
with  ten  thousand  horse,  and  a  considerable 
train  of  artillery,  while  the  king  was  passing 
the  Boristhenes. 

Fourteen  thousand  Swedes  surrendered  them- 
selves prisoners  of  war  to  these  ten  thousand 
Russians  ;  and  Levenhaupt,  who  commanded 
them,  signed  the  fatal  capitulation,  by  which  he 
gave  up  those  Zoporavians  who  had  engaged  in 
the  service  of  his  master,  and  were  then  in  the 
fugitive  army.  The  chief  persons  taken  pri- 
soners in  the  battle,  and  by  the  capitulation, 
were  count  Piper,  the  first  minister,  with  two 
secretaries  of  state,  and  two  of  the  cabinet; 
field  marshal  Renschild,  the  generals  Leren- 
haupt,  Slipenbak,  Rozen,  Stakelber,  Creuiz, 
and  Hamilton,  with  three  general  aides-de- 
camp, the  auditor-general  of  the  army,  fifty- 
nine  staff-officers,  five  colonels,  among  whom 
was  the  prince  of  Wirtemberg  ;  sixteen  thou- 
sand nine  hundred  and  forty-two  private  men 
and  non-commissioned  officers  :  in  short,  reck, 
oning  the  king's  own  domestics,  and  others,  the 
conqueror  had  no  less  than  eiglUeen  thousand 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  175 

teven  hundred  and  forty-six  prisoners  in  his 
power;  to  whom,  if  we  add  nine  thousand 
two  hundred  and  twenty-four  slain  in  battle,  and 
nearly  two  thousand  that  passed  the  Boristhenes 
with  Charles,  it  appears,  plainly,  that  he  had,  on 
that  memorable  day,  no  less  than  twenty-seven 
thousand  eflfective  men  under  his  command.* 

Charles  had  begun  his  march  from  Saxony  with 
forty-five  thousand  men,  Levenhaupl  had  brought 
upwards  of  sixteen  thousand  out  of  Livonia,  and 
yet  scarce  a  handful  of  men  was  left  of  all  this 
powerful  army  ;  of  a  numerous  train  of  artillery, 
part  lost  in  his  marches,  and  part  buried  in  the 
morasses;  he  had  now  remaining  only  eighteen 
brass  cannon,  two  howitzers,  and  twelve  mor- 
tars; and,  with  inconsiderable  force,  he  had  un- 
dertaken the  siege  of  Pultowa,  and  had  attacked 
an  arni}^  provided  with  a  formidable  artillery. 
Therefore  he  is,  with  justice,  accused  of  having 
shewn  more  courage  than  prudence,  after  his  leav- 
ing Germany.  On  the  side  of  the  Russians, 
there  were  no  more  than  fifty-two  officers  and  one 
thousand  two  hundred  and  ninety- three  private 
men  killed  ;  an  undeniable  proof,  that  the  dispo- 
sition of  the  Russian  troops  was  better  than  those 
of  Charles,  and  that  their  fire  was  infinitely  su- 
perior to  that  of  the  Swedes. 

We  find,  in  the  memoirs  of  a  foreign  ministei 
to  the  court  of  Russia,  that  Peter,  being  informed 
of  Charles's  design  to  take  refuge  in  lurkey, 
wrote  a  friendly  letter  to  him,  iiitreating  him  not 
to  take  so  desperate  a  resolution,  but  rather  to 

•  The  Memoirs  of  Ptter  llie  Great,  by  the  pretended 
boyard  I  wan  Nestesuranoj-,  printed  at  Amsterdano,  in 
17S0,  eay,  that  the  king  of  Sweden,  before  lie  passed  the 
Boristhenes,  sent  a  general  officer  with  proposals  of 
peace  to  the  ciar.  Tl-.e  four  volumes  of  these  MemoiJi 
are  either  a  collection  of  untruths  and  absurdities,  or 
uijmpilationfi  from  common  newspapers. 


176  HISTORY  OF 

trust  himself  in  his  hands,  than  in  those  of  the 
natural  enemy  of  all  Christian  princes.  Me  gave 
him,  at  the  same  time,  his  word  of  honour, not 
to  detain  him  prisoner,  but  to  terminate  ali  their 
diflferences  by  a  reasonable  peace.  This  letter 
was  sent  b}  an  express  as  far  as  the  river  Bug, 
which  separates  the  deserts  of  the  Ukraine  from 
the  grand  seignior's  dominions.  As  the  messenger 
did  not  reach  that  place  till  Charles  had  entered 
Turkey,  he  brought  back  the  letter  to  his  master. 
The  same  minister  adds  further,  that  he  had  this 
account  from  the  very  person  who  was  charged 
with  the  letter.*  This  anecdote  is  not  altogether 
improbable ;  but  I  do  not  meet  with  it  either  in 
Peter's  journals,  or  in  any  of  the  papers  entrusted 
to  my  care.  What  is  of  greater  importance,  in 
relation  to  this  battle,  was  its  being  the  only 
one,  of  the  many  that  have  stained  the  earth 
with  blood,  that,  instead  of  producing  only  de- 
struction, has  proved  beneficial  to  mankind,  by 
enabling  the  czar  to  civilize  so  considerable  a 
part  of  the  world. 

There  have  been  fought  more  than  two  hun- 
dred pitched  battles  in  Europe,  since  the  com- 
mencement of  this  century  to  the  present  year. 
The  most  signal,  and  the  most  bloody  victories, 
have  produced  no  other  consequences  than  the 
reduction  of  a  few  provinces  ceded  afterwards 
by  treaties,  and  retaken  again  by  other  battles. 
Armies  of  a  hundred  thousand  men  have  fre- 
quently engaged  each  other  in  the  field  ;  but  the 
greatest  efforts  have  been  attended  with  only 
slight  and  momentary  successes  ;  the  most  trivial 
causes  have  been  productive  of  the  greatest  ef- 
fects. There  is  no  instance,  in  modern  historyj 
of  any   war  that  has   compensated,  by  even  a 

•  This  fact  is  likewise  found  in  a.  letter,  primed 
bftforethe  Anecdotes  of  R'a3sia>  p.  23- 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  177 

better  good,  for  the  many  evils  it  has  occHsioned: 
but,  from  the  battle  of  Pultowa,  the  greatest  em- 
pire under  the  sun  has  derived  its  present  happi- 
ness and  prosperity. 


CHAP.  XIX. 


Consequences  of  the  battle  of  Pultowa. —  Charles  Xll. 
takes  refuge  among  the  Turks. — Augustus,  whom  he 
had  dethroned,  recovers  his  dominions. — Conquests  of 
Peter  the  Great. 

1709.  'T'HE  chief  prisoners  of  rank  were  now 
presented  to  the  conqueror,  who 
ordered  their  swords  to  be  returned,  and  invited 
them  to  dinner.  It  is  a  well  known  fact,  that, 
on  drinking  to  the  officers,  he  said,  '  'I'o  the 
health  of  my  masters  in  the  art  of  war.'  How- 
ever, most  of  his  masters,  particularly  the  subal- 
tern officers,  and  all  the  private  men,  were  soorj 
afterwards  sent  into  Siberia.  'Ihere  was  no  car- 
tel established  here  for  exchange  of  prisoners  be- 
tween the  Russians  and  Swedes ;  the  czar,  in- 
deed, had  proposed  one  before  the  siege  of  Pul- 
towa, but  Charles  rejected  the  offer,  and  his 
troops  were  in  every  thing  the  victims  of  his  in- 
flexible pride. 

It  was  this  unseasonable  obstinacy  that  occa- 
sioned all  the  misfortunes  of  this  prince  in  Tur- 
key, and  a  series  of  adventures,  more  becoming 
a  hero  of  romance  than  a  wise  or  prudent  king  ; 
for,  as  soon  as  he  arrived  at  Bender,  he  was  ad- 
vised to  write  to  the  grand-vizier,  as  is  the  custom 
among  the  Turks  ;  but  this  ho  thought  would  be 
demeaning  himself  too  far.  The  like  obstinacy 
embroiled  him  with  all  the  ministers  of  the  Porte, 
>ne  after  another,  in  short,  he  knew  not  bov 
H  2 


178  HISTORY  OF 

to  accommoaate  himself  either  to  times  or  cir- 
cumstances.* 

The  first  news  of  the  battle  of  Pultowa  pro- 
duced a  general  revolution  in  minds  and  affairs 
in  Poland,  Saxony,  Sweden,  and  Silesia.  Charles,' 
while  all  powerful  in  those  parts,  had  obliged 
the  emperor  Joseph  to  take  a  hundred  and  five 
churches  from  the  catholics  in  favour  of  the  Sile- 
siaus  of  the  confession  of  Augsburg.  The  ca- 
tholics then  no  sooner  received  news  of  the  de- 
feat of  Charles,  than  they  repossessed  themselves 
of  all  the  Lutheran  temples.  The  Saxons  now 
thought  of  nothing  but  being  revenged  for  the 
extortions  of  a  conqueror,  who  had  robbed  them, 
according  to  their  own  account,  of  twenty-three 
millions  of  crowns. 

The  king  of  Poland,  their  elector,  immediately 
protested  against  the  abdication  that  had  been 
extorted  from  him,  and  being  now  reconciled  to 
the  czar  (Aug.  3.),  he  left  no  stone  unturned  to 
reascend  the  Polish  throne.  Sweden,  overwhelm- 
ed with  consternation,  thought  her  king  for  a 
long  time  dead,  and  in  this  uncertainty  the  se- 
nate knew  not  what  to  resolve. 

Peter  in  the  mean  lime  determined  to  make 
the  best  use  of  his  victory,  and  therefore  dis- 
patched marshal  Sberemeto  with  an  army  into 
Livonia,  on  the  frontiers  of  which  province  that 
general  had  so  often  distinguished  himself. 
Prince  Menzikoff  was  sent  in  haste  with  a  nume- 
rous bivdy  of  cavalry  to  second  the  few  troops  left 
in  Poland,  to  encourage  the  nobles  who  were  in 

•  La  Motraye,  in  the  relation  of  his  travels,  quotes 
a  letter  froai  Charles  XIT.  to  the  grand  vizier;  but  this 
letter  is  false,  as  are  most  of  the  relations  of  that  mer- 
cenary writer  ;  and  Norberg  himself  acknowledges  that 
the  king  of  Sweden  never  could  be  prevailed  on  lo  writa 
to  the  grand  vizier. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  179 

the  intferest  of  Augustus  to  drive  out  his  competi- 
tor, who  was  now  consiklered  in  no  better  light 
than  a  rebel,  and  to  disperse  a  body  of  Sw^edes 
and  troojts  that  were  still  left  in  that  kingdom 
under  the  command  of  general  Crassau. 

The  czar  soon  after  sets  out  in  person,  marches 
through  the  province  of  Kiow,  and  the  palatinates 
of  Chelm  and  Upper  Volhinia,  and  at  length  ar- 
rives at  Lublin,  where  he  concerts  measures  with 
the  general  of  Lithuania.  He  then  reviews  the 
crown  troops,  who  all  take  the  oath  of  allegiance 
to  king  Augustus,  from  thence  he  proceeds  to 
Warsaw,  and  at  Thera  enjoyed  the  most  glorious 
of  all  triumphs  (Sept.  18.),  that  of  receiving  the 
thanks  of  a  king,  whom  he  had  rei'istated  in  his 
dominions.  There  it  was  that  i^  concluded  a 
treaty  against  Sweden,  with  the  kings  of  Den- 
mark, Poland,  and  Prussia  (Oct.  7.):  in  which 
he  was  resolved  to  recover  from  Charles  all  the 
conquests  of  Gustavus  Adolphus.  Peter  revived 
the  ancient  pretensions  of  the  czars  to  Livonia, 
Ingria,  Carelia,  and  part  of  Finland  ;  Denmark 
laid  claim  to  Scania,  and  the  king  of  Prussia  to 
Pomerania. 

Ihus  had  I'harles  XIL  by  his  unsuccessful  va- 
lour, shook  the  noble  edifice  that  had  been  erected 
by  the  ])rosporous  bravery  of  his  ancestor  Gusta- 
vus Adolphus.  The  Polish  nobility  came  in  on 
all  sides  to  renew  their  oatis  to  their  kmg,  or  to 
a«k  pardon  for  having  deserted  him  ;  and  almost 
the  whole  kingdom  acknowledged  Peter  for  its 
protector. 

To  the  victorious  arms  of  the  czar,  to  these  new 
treaties,  and  to  this  sudden  revolution,  Stanislau* 
had  nothing  to  oppose  but  a  voluntary  resigna- 
tion :  he  published  a  writing  called  Universale, 
in  which  he  declares  himself  ready  to  resign  thfl 
crown,  if  the  republi :  required  it. 


laa  HISTORY  of 

peter,  having  concerted  all  the  necessary  mea- 
sures with  the  king  of  Poland,  and  ratified  the 
treaty  with  Denmark,  set  out  directly  to  finish  his 
negotiation  with  the  king  of  Prussia.  It  was  not 
then  usual  for  sovereign  princes  to  perform  the 
function  of  their  own  ambassadors  Peter  was 
the  first  who  introduced  this  custom,  which  has 
been  followed  by  very  few.  The  elector  of  Bran- 
denburg, the  first  king  of  Prussia,  had  a  con- 
ference with  the  czar  at  ]Marienverder,  a  small 
town  situated  in  the  western  part  of  Pomerania, 
and  built  by  the  old  Teutonic  knights,  and  in- 
cluded in  the  limits  of  Prussia,  lately  erected 
into  a  kingdom.  This  country  indeed  was  poor, 
and  of  a  small  extent ;  but  its  new  king,  when- 
ever he  travelled,  displayed  the  utmost  magni- 
ficence ;  xvith  great  splendour  he  had  received 
czar  Peter  at  his  first  passing  through  his  domi- 
nions, when  that  prince  quitted  kis  empire  to  go 
in  search  of  instruction  among  strangers.  But 
he  received  the  conqueror  of  Charles  XII.  in 
a  still  more  pompous  manner.  (Oct.  20.)  Peter 
for  this  time  concluded  only  b.  defensive  treaty 
with  him  which  afterwards,  however,  comDleted 
tlie  rum  of  Sweden. 

Not  an  instant  of  time  was  lost.  Peter,  ns^ 
ing  proceeded  with  the  greatest  dispatch  in  his 
negotiations,  which  elsewhere  are  wont  to  take 
up  so  much  time,  goes  and  joins  his  army,  then 
before  Riga,  the  capital  of  Livonia  ;  he  began  by 
bombarding  the  place  (Nov.  21.),  and  fired  off 
the  three  first  bombs  himself ;  then  changed  the 
siege  into  a  blockade  ;  and,  when  well  assured 
that  Riga  could  not  escape  him,  he  repaired  to 
his  city  of  Petersburg,  to  inspect  and  forward  the 
works  carrying  on  there,  the  new  buildings, 
and  finishing  of  his  lieet ;  and  having  laid  the 
keel  of  a  ship  of  fifty-four  guns,  (Dec.  ?.)  vvith 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  181 

Lis  own  hands,  he  returned  to  Moscow.  Here 
he  amused  himself  with  assisting  in  the  prepa- 
rations for  the  triumphal  entry,  which  he  ex- 
hibited in  the  capital.  He  directed  everj  thing 
relating  to  that  festival,  and  was  himself  the 
principal  contriver  and  architect. 

He  opened  the  year  1710  with  this  solemnity, 
60  necessary  to  his  subjects,  whom  it  inspired 
with  notions  of  grandeur,  and  was  highly  pleas- 
ing to  every  one  who  had  been  fearful  of  seeing 
those  enter  their  walls  as  conquerors,  over  whom 
they  now  triumphed.  Seven  magnificent  arches 
were  erected,  under  which  passed  in  triumph, 
the  artillery,  standards,  and  colours,  taken  from 
the  enemy,  with  their  officers,  generals,  and  mi- 
nisters, who  had  been  taken  prisoners,  all  on  foot, 
amidst  the  ringing  of  bells,  the  sound  of  trum- 
pets, the  discharge  ofahundred  pieces  of  cannon, 
and  the  acclamations  of  an  innumerable  concourse 
of  people,  whor-e  voices  rent  the  air  as  soon  as 
the  cannon  ceased  firing.  The  procession  was 
closed  by  the  victorious  army,  with  the  generals 
at  its  head;  and  Peter,  who  marched  in  his 
rank  of  major-general.  At  each  triumphal  arch 
stood  the  deputies  of  the  several  orders  of  the 
state  ;  and  at  the  last  was  a  chosen  band  of 
young  gentlemen,  the  sons  of  boyards,  clad  in 
Roman  habits,  who  presented  a  crown  of  laurels 
to  their  victorious  monarch. 

This  public  festival  was  followed  by  another 
ceremony,  which  proved  no  less  satisfactory  than 
the  former.  In  the  year  1708  happened  an  ac- 
cident the  more  disagreeable  to  Peter,  as  his  arms 
were  at  that  time  unsuccessful.  .Mattheof,  his 
ambassador  to  the  court  of  London,  having  had 
hisaudience  of  leave  of  queen  Anne,  was  arrested 
for  il(  l)t,  at  the  mit  of  some  English  merchanta, 
anl  carried  before  a  justice  of  jeace  to  give  bo- 


182  HISTORY  OF 

curity  for  the  monies  he  owed  there.  The  mer- 
chants insisted  that  the  laws  of  commerce  Ought 
to  prevail  before  the  privileges  of  foreign  minie- 
ters  ;  the  czar's  ambassador,  and  with  him  all  the 
public  ministers,  protested  against  this  proceed 
ing,  alleging,  that  their  persons  ought  to  be  al- 
ways inviolable.  The  czar  wrote  to  queen  Anne, 
demanding  satisfaction  for  the  insult  offered  him 
in  the  person  of  his  ambassador. 

But  the  queen  had  it  not  in  her  power  to  gratify 
him ;  because,  by  the  laws  of  England,  trades- 
men were  allowed  to  prosecute  their  debtors,  and 
there  was  no  law  that  excepted  public  ministers 
from  such  prosecution.     The*  murder  of  Patkul, 

•  The  czar,  says  the  preface  to  lord  Whitworth's  ac- 
count of  Prussia,  who  had  been  absolute  enough  to  civilize 
savages,  had  no  idea,  could  conceive  none,  of  the  privileges 
of  a  nation  civilized  ia  the  only  rational  manner  bj-lawg 
and  liberties.  He  demanded  immediate  and  severe  pu- 
nishment of  the  offenders  :  he  demanded  it  of  a  priuci-ss, 
whom  he  thought  interested,  to  assert  the  sacredness 
of  the  persons  of  monarchs,  even  in  their  representatives  ; 
and  he  demanded  it  with  threats  of  wreaking  his  ven- 
geance on  all  English  merchants  and  subjects  established 
in  his  dominioas.  In  this  light  the  menaces  were  formi- 
dable ;  otherwise,  happily,  the  rights  of  the  whole  people 
were  more  sacred  here  than  the  persons  of  foreign  minis- 
ters. The  czar's  memorials  urged  the  queen  with  the 
satisfaction  which  she  herself  had  extorted,  when  only 
the  boat  and  servants  of  the  earl  of  Manchester  had  been 
insulted  at  Venice.  That  state  had  broken  through  the 
fundamental  laws,  to  content  the  queen  of  Great  Britain. 
How  noble  a  picture  of  government,  when  a  monarch,  that 
can  force  another  nation  to  infringe  its  constitution,  dar« 
not  violate  his  own  r  One  may  imagine  with  what  diffi- 
culty our  secretaries  of  state  must  have  laboured  through 
all  the  ambages  of  phrase  in  English,  French.  German,  and 
Kuss,  to  explain  to  Muscovite  ears  and  Muscovite  under- 
standings, the  meaning  of  indictments,  pleadings,  preoe- 
dfiQis,  -uries,  and  verdicts;  and  how  impatiently  Peter  ina« 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  183 

the  czar's  ambassador,  who  had  been  executed 
the  year  before  by  the  order  of  Charles  XII.  had 
encouraged  the  English  to  shew  so  little  regard  to 
a  character  which  had  been  so  cruelly  profaned. 
The  other  public  ministers  who  were  then  at  the 
court  of  Loudon,  were  obliged  to  be  bound  for 
the  czar's  ambassador;  and  at  length  all  the 
queen  could  do  in  his  favour,  was  to  prevail  on 
her  parliament  to  pass  an  act,  by  which  no  one 
for  the  future  could  arrest  an  ambassador  for 
debt ;  but  after  the  battle  of  Pultowa,  the  Eng- 
lish court  thought  proper  to  give  satisfaction  to 
the  czar. 

The  queen  made  by  a  formal  embassy  an  ex- 

have  listened  to  promises  of  a  hearing  next  term  ?  With 
what  astonishment  must  he  have  beheld  a  p;reat  queen,  en- 
gaging to  endeavour  to  prevail  on  her  parliament  to  pass 
an  act  to  prevent  any  such  outrage  for  the  future  ?  What 
honour  does  it  not  reflect  on  the  memory  of  that  princess 
to  own  to  an  arbitrary  emperor,  that  even  to  appease  him 
«he  dare  not  put  the  meanest  of  her  subjects  to  death  un- 
oondemned  bj'  law  ! — There  are,  says  she,  in  one  of  her 
dispatches  to  him,  insuperable  difficulties,  with  respect 
to  the  ancient  and  fundamental  laws  of  the  government 
of  our  people  ;  which  we  fear  do  not  permit  so  severe 
and  rigorous  a  sentence  to  be  given,  as  your  imperial 
majesty  at  first  seemed  to  expect  in  this  case  ;  and  we 
persuade  ourself,  that  j'our  imperial  majesty,  who  are  a 
prince  famous  for  clemency  and  exact  justice,  will  not 
require  us,  who  are  the  guardian  and  protectress  of  the 
laws,  to  inflict  a  punishment  upon  our  subjects,  which 
the  law  does  not  impower  us  to  do.  Words  so  venerable 
and  heroic,  that  this  broil  ouf^ht  to  become  liistor)-,  and 
h«  exempted  from  the  oblivion  due  to  the  silly  s-quabblea 
of  ambassadors  and  their  privileges.  If  Anne  deserved 
praise  for  her  conduct  on  this  occasion,  it  reflects  still 
greater  glory  on  Peter,  that  thil  fcocious  man  should 
listen  to  these  details,  and  had  moderation  and  juati'-e 
CQOQgh  to  be  persuaded  by  the  reason  of  them. 


184  HISTORY  OF 

case  for  what  had  passed.  IMr.  Whitwonh,*  th* 
person  charged  with  this  coiiimissio.i,  began  bis 
harangue  with  the  following  words. — (Feb.  16.) 
'  Most  high  and  mighty  emperor."  He  told  the 
czar  that  the  person  who  had  presumed  to  arrest 
his  ambassador,  had  been  imprisoned  and  ren- 
dered infamous.  There  was  no  truth  in  all  this, 
but  it  was  sufficient  that  he  said  so,  and  the  title 
of  emperor,  which  the  queen  had  not  given  Peter 
before  the  battle  of  Pultowa,  shewed  the  con- 
sideration he  had  now  acquired  in  Europe. 

This  title  had  been  already  granted  him  in 
Holland,  not  only  by  those  who  had  been  his 
fellow-workmen  in  the  dock-yards  at  Saardam, 
and  seemed  to  interest  themselves  most  in  his 
glory,  but  likewise  by  the  principal  persons  in 
the  slate,  who  unanimously  styled  him  emperor, 
and  made  public  rejoicings  for  his  victory,  even 
m  the  presence  of  the  Swedish  minister. 

The  universal  reputation  which  he  had  acquired 
by  his  victory  of  Pultowa,  was  still  further  in- 
creased by  his  not  suffering  a  moment  to  pass 
without  making  some  advantages  of  it.  In  the 
first  place,  he  laid  siege  to  Elbing,  a  Hans  town 
of  Regal  Prussia  in  Poland,  where  the  Swedes 
had  still  a  garrison.  The  Russians  scaled  the 
walls,  entered  the  town,  and  the  garrison  surren- 
dered prisoners  of  war.  (Mar.  11.)  This  was  one 
of  the  largest  magazines  belonging  to  Charles 
XII.  The  conquerors  found  therein  one  hundred 
and  eighty-three  brass  cannon,  and  one  hundred 
and  fifty-seven  mortars.  Immediately  after  the 
reduction  of  Elbing,  Peter  re-marched  from  Mos- 
cow to  Petersburg  (April  2.)  ;  as  soon  as  he  ar- 
rived at  this  latter  place,  he  took  shij.pinsf  under 
his  new  fortress  of  Cronslot,  coasted  along  the 

♦  Afterwnrds  created  lord  Wlutworth.  by  kia^  George  I 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  185 

shore  of  Carelia,  and  notwithstanding  a  violent 
storm,  brought  his  fleet  safely  before  VViburg, 
the  capital  of  Carelia  in  Finland  ;  while  his  land- 
forces  advanced  over  the  frozen  morasses,  and  in 
a  short  time  the  capital  of  Livonia  beheld  itself 
closely  blockaded  (June  23.)  :  and  after  a  breacn 
was  made  in  the  walls,  Wiburg  surrendered, 
and  the  garrison,  consisting  of  four  thousand 
men,  capitulated,  but  did  not  receive  the  honours 
of  war,  being  made  prisoners  notwithstanding 
the  capitulation.  Peter  charged  the  enemy  with 
several  infractions  of  this  kind,  and  promised  to 
set  these  troops  at  liberty,  as  soon  as  he  should 
receive  satisfaction  from  the  Swedes,  for  his  com- 
plaints. On  this  occasion  the  king  of  Sweden  was 
to  be  consulted,  who  continued  as  inflexible  as 
ever;  and  those  soldiers,  whom,  by  a  little  con- 
cession, he  might  have  delivered  from  their  con- 
finement, remained  in  captivity.  Thus  did  king 
William  111.  in  169.T,  arrest  marshal  Boufflers, 
notwithstanding  the  capitulation  of  Namur.  There 
have  been  several  instances  of  such  violations  of 
treaties,  but  it  is  to  be  wished  there  never  had 
been  any. 

After  the  taking  of  this  capital,  the  blockade 
of  Riga  was  soon  changed  into  a  regular  siege, 
and  pushed  with  vigour.  'Ihey  were  obliged  to 
break  the  ice  on  the  river  Dwina,  which  waters 
the  walls  of  the  city.  An  epidemical  disorder, 
which  had  raged  some  time  in  those  parts,  now 
got  amongst  the  besiegeis,  and  carried  off  nine 
thousand  ;  nevertheless,  the  siege  was  not  in  the 
least  slackened  ;  it  lasted  a  considerable  time, 
but  at  length  the  garrison  capitulated  i^  July  15. )  ; 
and  were  allowed  the  honours  of  war  ;  but  it  was 
stipulated  by  the  capitulation,  that  all  the  hivo- 
nian  officers  and  soldiers  should  enter  into  the 
Russian  service,  as  natives  of  a  country  that  had 


186  HISTORY  OF 

been  dismembered  from  that  ernpire,  and  usurp- 
ed by  the  ancestors  of  Charles  XIL  But  the  Li- 
Tonians  were  restored  to  the  privileges  of  which 
his  lather  had  stripped  them,  and  all  the  officers 
entered  into  the  czar's  service  :  this  was  the 
most  nobl^e  satisfaction  that  Peter  could  take  for 
the  n\urder  of  his  ambassador,  Patkul,  a  Livo- 
nian,  who  had  been  put  to  death,  for  defending 
those  privileges.  The  garrison  consisted  of  near 
five  thousand  men.  A  short  time  afterwards  the 
citadel  of  Pennamund  was  taken,  and  the  be- 
siegers found  in  the  town  and  fort  above  eight 
hundred  pieces  of  artillery  of  different  kinds. 

Nothing  was  now  wanting,  to  make  Peter  en- 
tirely master  of  the  province  of  Carelia,  but  the 
possession  of  the  strong  town  of  Kexholm,  built 
on  an  island  in  the  lake  of  Ladoga,  and  deemed 
impregnable  ;  it  was  bombarded  soon  after,  and 
surrendered  in  ashort  time.  (Sep.  19.)  The  island 
of  Oesel  in  the  sea,  bordering  upon  the  north  of 
Livonia,  was  subdued  with  the  same  rapidity. 
(Sep.   23.) 

On  the  side  of  Esthonia,  a  province  of  Livonia, 
towards  the  north,  and  on  the  gulf  of  Finland, 
are  the  towns  of  Pernau  and  Revel  :  by  the  re- 
duction of  these  Peter  completed  the  conquest  of 
all  Livonia.  Pernau  surrendered  after  a  siege  of 
a  few  days  (Aug.  '.\'>.),  and  Revel  capitulated 
(Sep.  10.)  without  waiting  to  have  a  single  can- 
non fired  against  it ;  but  the  besieged  found  means 
to  escape  out  of  the  hands  of  the  conquerors,  at 
the  very  time  that  they  were  surrendering  them- 
selves prisoners  of  war  :  for  some  Swedish  ships, 
having  anchored  in  the  road,  under  favour  of  the 
eight,  the  garrison  and  most  of  the  citizens  em- 
barked on  board,  and  when  the  besiegers  entered 
the  town,  they  were  surprised  to  find  it  deserted. 
When  Charles  XIL  gained  the  victory  of  Narva 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  187 

tittle  did  he  expect  that  his  troops  would  one 
day  be  driven  to  use  such  artifices. 

In  Poland,  Stanislaus  finding  his  party  entirely 
ruined,  had  taken  refuge  in  Pomerania,  which 
etill  belonged  to  Charles  XII.  Augustus  resumed 
the  government,  and  it  was  difficult  to  decide  who 
had  acquired  most  glory,  Charles  in  dethroning 
him.  or  Peter  in  restoring  him  to  his  crown. 

The  subjects  of  the  king  of  Sweden  were  still 
more  unfortunate  than  that  monarch  himself.  The 
contagious  distemper,  which  had  made  such  ha- 
vock  over  Livonia,  passed  from  thence  into  Swe- 
den, where,  in  the  city  of  Stockholm,  it  carried 
off  thirty  thousand  persons  :  it  likewise  desolated 
the  provinces,  already  thinned  of  their  inhabit- 
ants ;  for  during  the  space  of  ten  years  succes- 
sively, most  of  the  able-bodied  men  had  quitted 
their  country  to  follow  their  master,  and  perished 
*in  foreign  climes. 

Charles's  ill  fortune  pursued  him  also  in  Pome- 
rania :  his  army  had  retired  thither  from  Poland, 
to  the  number  of  eleven  thousand  ;  the  czar,  the 
kings  of  Denmark  and  Prussia,  the  elector  of  Han- 
over, and  the  duke  of  Holstein,  joined  together 
to  render  this  army  useless,  and  to  compel  gene- 
ral Crassau,  who  commanded  it,  to  submit  to 
neutrality.  The  regency  of  Stockholm,  hearing  no 
news  of  their  king,  and  distracted  by  the  morta- 
lity that  raged  in  that  city,  were  glad  to  sign  this 
neutrality,  which  seemed  to  deliver  one  of  its 
provinces  at  least  from  the  horrors  of  war.  The 
emperor  of  Germany  favoured  this  extraordinary 
convention,  by  which  it  was  stipulated,  that  the 
Swedish  army  then  in  Pomerania  should  not  march 
from  thence  to  assist  their  monarch  in  any  other 
part  of  the  world  ;  nay,  it  was  furthermore  re- 
solved in  the  German  empire,  to  raise  an  army 
Ut  enforce  the  execution  of  this  unparalleled  con* 


188  HISTORY   OF 

vention.  The  reason  of  this  was,  that  the  empe- 
ror of  Germany,  who  was  then  at  war  with  France, 
was  in  hopes  to  engage  the  Swedish  army  to  enter 
into  his  service.  This  whole  negotiation  was 
carried  on  while  Peter  was  subduing  Livonia, 
Esthonia,  and  Carelia. 

Charles  XII.  who  was  all  this  tinoe  at  Bender, 
putting  every  spring  in  motion  to  engage  the 
divan  to  declare  war  against  the  czar,  received 
this  news  as  one  of  the  severest  blows  his  unto- 
ward fortune  had  dealt  him  :  he  could  not  brook, 
that  his  senate  at  Stockholm  should  pretend  to 
tie  up  the  hands  of  his  army,  and  it  was  on  this 
occasion  that  he  wrote  them  word,  he  would  send 
one  of  bis  boots  to  govern  them. 

The  Danes,  in  the  mean  time,  were  making 
preparations  to  invade  Sweden  ;  so  that  every 
nation  in  Europe  was  now  engaged  in  war,  Spain, 
Portugal,  Italy,  France,  Germany,  Holland,  and 
England,  were  contending  for  the  donanions  left 
by  Charles  II.  of  Spain;  and  the  whole  North 
■was  up  in  arms  against  Charles  XII.  There  want- 
ed only  a  quarrel  with  the  Ottoman  empire,  for 
every  village  in  Europe  to  be  exposed  to  the  ra- 
vages of  war.  This  quarrel  happened  soon  after- 
wards, when  Peter  had  attained  to  the  Eummit 
of  his  glory,  and  precisely  for  that  reason. 


CHAP.  XX. 

Campaign   of  Pruth. 


CULTAN  Achmet  III.  declared  war  against 
Peter  I.  not  from  any  regard  to  \he  king  of 
Sweden,  but,  as  mav  readilv  be  supposed,  merely 
from  a  view  to  his  own  interest.  The  Khan  of 
the  Crim  Tartars   could  not  without  dread,  be- 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  189 

hold  a  neighbour  so  powerful  as  Peter  T  The 
Porte  had,  for  some  time,  taken  umbrage  at  the 
number  of  ships  which  this  prince  had  on  the 
Palus  Mffiotis,  and  in  the  Black  Sea,  at  his  for- 
tifying the  city  of  Azoph,  and  at  the  flourishing 
state  of  the  harbour  of  Taganroc,  already  become 
famous  ;  and,  lastly,  at  his  great  series  of  suc- 
cesses, and  at  the  ambition  which  success  never 
fails  to  augment. 

It  is  neither  true,  nor  even  probable,  that  the 
Porte  .should  have  begun  the  war  against  the 
czar,  on  the  Palus  Maeotis,  for  no  other  reason 
than  because  a  Swedish  ship  had  taken  a  bark  ou 
the  Baltic,  o;i  board  of  which  was  found  a  letter 
from  a  minister,  whos.?  name  has  never  been 
mentioned.  Norberg  tells  us,  that  this  letter 
contained  a  plan  for  the  conquest  of  the  Turkish 
empire  ;  that  it  was  carried  to  Charles  XII.  who 
was  then  in  Turkey,  and  was  by  him  sent  to  the 
divan  ;  and  that  immediately  after  the  receipt  of 
this  letter,  war  was  declared.  But  this  story 
carries  the  mark  of  fiction  with  it.  It  \vas  the 
remonstrances  of  the  khan  of  Tartary,  who  was 
'more  uneasy  about  the  neighbourhood  of  Azoph, 
than  the  Turkish  divan,  that  induced  this  latter 
to  give  orders  for  taking  the  field.* 

•  The  account  this  chaplain  gives  of  the  demands  of 
the  grand  seignior  is  equall)'  false  and  puerile  He 
says,  that  sultan  Achmct,  previous  to  his  declaring;  war 
against  the  czar,  sent  to  that  prince  a  paper,  containing 
the  conditions  oQ  which  he  was  willing  to  grant  him 
peace.  These  conditions,  Norberg  tells  us,  were  as  fol- 
lows :  ^fhat  Peter  should  renounce  liis  alliance  with 
Aogiistus.  reinstate  Stanislaus  in  the  possession  of  the 
crown  of  Poland,  restore  all  I.ivonia  to  Charlen  XII.,  and 
pay  that  prince  the  value  in  ready  money  of  what  he  had 
taken  from  him  at  the  battle  of  Pultowa  ;  and.  lastly, 
that  the  cz.ar  should  demolish  his  newlybuiU  city  of  Pe 


190  HISTORY  OF 

It  was  in  the  month  of  August,  and  before  the 
czar  had  completed  the  reduction  of  Livonia, 
when  Achmet  111.  resolved  to  dechire  war  against 
him.  Tbe  Turks,  at  that  time,  could  hardly  have 
had  the  news  of  the  taking  of  Riga;  and,  there- 
fore, the  proposal  of  restoring  to  the  king  of 
Sweden  the  value  in  money,  of  the  eSVcts  he 
had  lost  at  the  battle  of  Pultowa,  would  have 
been  the  most  absurd  thing  imaginable,  if  not 
exceeded  by  that  of  demolishing  Petersburg.  The 
behaviour  of  Charles  XII.  at  Bender,  was  suffi- 
ciently romantic  ;  but  the  conduct  of  the  Turkish 
divan  would  have  been  much  more  so,  if  we  sup- 
pose it  to  have  made  any  demands  of  this  kind. 

Nov.  1710.]  The  khan  of  Tartary,  who  was 
the  principal  instigator  of  this  war,  paid  Charles 
a  visit  in  his  retreat  at  Bender.  They  were  con- 
nected by  'he  same  interests,  inasmuch  as  Europe 
makes  part  of  the  frontiers  of  Little  Tartary. 
Charles  and  the  khan  were  the  two  greatest  suf- 
ferers by  the  successes  of  the  czar  ;  but  the  khan 
did  not  command  the  forces  of  the  grand  seig- 
nior. He  was  like  one  of  the  feudatory  princes 
of  Germany,  who  served  iu  the  armies  of  the 
empire  with  their  own  troops,  and  were  subject 
to  the  authority  of  the  emperor's  generals  for  the 
time  being. 

Nov.  29,  1710  ]  The  first  step  taken  by  the 
divan,  was  to  arrest  Tolstoy,  the  czar's  ambas- 
sador at  the  Porte,  in  the  streets  of  Constanti- 
nople, together  with  thirty  of  his  domestics,  who, 
with  their  master,  were  all  conhnedin  the  prison 

lereburg.'  This  piece  was  forged  by  one  Brazej,  a  half- 
starved  pamphleteer,  and  antbor  of  a  work  entitled.  Me- 
moirs, Satirical,  Historical,  and  Entertaining.  It  was 
from  this  fountain  Norberg  drew  his  intelligence;  and 
howcTer  he  may  have  been  the  confessor  of  Charles  XII. 
he  certainly  does  not  appear  to  have  been  his  confidant. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  191 

of  the  Seven  Towers.  This  barbarous  custom, 
at  which  even  savages  would  blush,  is  owing  to 
the  Turks  having  always  a  number  of  foreign 
ministers  residing  amongst  them  from  other 
courts,  whereas  they  never  send  any  in  return. 
They  look  upon  the  ambassadors  of  Christian 
princes  in  no  other  light  than  as  merchants  or 
consuls  ;  and,  having  naturally  as  great  a  con- 
tempt for  Christians  as  they  have  for  Jews,  they 
seldom  condescend  to  observe  the  laws  of  na- 
tions, in  respect  to  them,  unless  forced  to  it  ;  at 
least,  they  have  hitherto  persisted  in  this  barba- 
rous pride. 

The  famous  vizier,  Achmet  Couprougli,  the 
same  who  took  the  island  of  Candia,  under  Maho- 
met IV.,  insulted  the  son  of  the  French  ambas- 
sador, and  even  carried  his  brutality  so  far  as  to 
strike  him,  and  afterwards  to  confine  him  in 
prison,  without  Lewis  XIV'.,  proud  and  lofty  as 
he  was,  daring  to  resent  it,  otherwise  than  by 
sending  another  minister  to  the  Porte.  The 
Christian  princes,  who  are  so  remarkably  deli- 
cate on  the  point  of  honour  amongst  themselves, 
and  have  even  made  it  a  part  of  the  law  of  na- 
tions, seem  to  be  utterly  insensible  on  this  head 
in  regard  to  the  Turks. 

Never  did  a  crowned  head  suffer  greater  af- 
fronts in  the  persons  of  his  ministers,  than  czar 
Peter.  In  the  space  of  a  few  years,  his  ambas- 
sador at  the  court  of  London  was  thrown  into 
jail  for  debt,  his  plenipotentiary  at  the  courts  of 
Poland  and  Saxony  was  broke  upon  the  wheel, 
by  order  of  the  king  of  Sweden  ;  and  now  his 
minister  at  the  Ottoman  Porte  was  seized  and 
thrown  into  a  dungeon  at  Constantinople,  like  ;i 
common  felon.* 

•  The  new  vizier  embraced  every  opportaniiy  of 
nfTroDtini;  the  czar,  io  the  persou  of  his  >'.a\oy,  and  par. 


192  HISTORY  OF 

We  have  already  observed,  in  the  first  part  of 
this  history,  that  he  received  satisfaction  from 
queen  Anne,  of  England,  for  the  insult  offered 
to  his  ambassador  at  London  'J'he  horrible  af- 
front he  suffered,  in  the  person  of  Patkul,  was 
washed  away  in  the  blood  of  the  Swedes  slain  at 
the  battle  of  Pultowa  ;  but  fortune  permitted  the 
violation  of  the  law  of  nations  by  the  Turks  to 
pass  unpunished. 

Jan.  1711.]  The  czar  now  found  himself  ob- 
liged to  quit  the  theatre  of  war  in  the  west,  and 
march  towards  the  frontiers  of  Turkey.  He  be- 
gan by  causing  ten  regiments,  which  he  had  in 
Poland,  to  advance  towards  Moldavia. t  He  then 
ordered  marshal  Sheremeto  to  set  out  from 
Livonia,  with  his  body  of  forces  ;  and,  leaving 
prince  Menzikoff  at  the  head  of  affairs  at  Pe- 
tersburg, he  returned  to  IMoscow,  to  give  orders 
for  opening  the  ensuing  campaign. 

Jan.  18.]  He  now  establishes  a  senate  of  re- 
gency :  the  regiment  of  guards  begin  their  march, 
he  issues  orders  for  all  the  young  nobility  to  fol- 
low him  to  the  field,  to  learn  the  art  of  war,  and 

ticularly  in  giving  the  French  ambassador  the  preference. 
It  was  customary,  on  the  promotion  of  the  grar.d  vizier, 
for  all  the  foreign  ministers  to  'equest  an  audience  of 
congratulation.  Connt  Tolstoy  was  the  first  who  de- 
manded that  audience  ;  but  was  answered — That  the 
precedence  had  always  been  given  to  the  ambassador  of 
France  :  whereupon  Tolstoy  informed  the  viaier — That 
te  must  be  deprived  of  the  pleasure  of  waiting  on  him 
at  all:  which,  being  maliciously  represented,  as  express- 
ing the  utmost  contempt  cf  his  person,  and  the  khan  of 
Tartary  being  at  the  same  time  instigated  to  make  several 
heavy  complaints  acrainst  the  conduct  of  the  Russians  on 
the  frontiers,  count  Tolstoy  was  immediaieiy  committed 
to  the  castle  of  tbe  Seven  Towers. 

t  It  is  very  strange  that  so  many  writers  always  con- 
found  Walachia  and  Moldavia  together. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  193 

places  some  of  them  iu  the  station  of  cadets,  and 
others  in  that  of  subaltern  officers.  Admiral 
Apraxin  goes  to  Azoph  to  take  the  command  by 
sea  and  land.  These  several  measures  being 
taken,  the  czar  publishes  an  ordonnance  in  Mos- 
cow for  acknowledging  a  new  empress.  This 
was  the  person  who  had  been  taken  prisoner  in 
Marienburg,  in  the  year  1702.  Peter  had,  in 
1696,  repudiated  his  wife  Eudoxia  Lopoukin  (or 
Lapouchin)  by  whom  he  had  two  children.  'Jhe 
laws  of  his  church  allow  of  no  divorces  ;  but,  had 
they  not,  Peter  would  have  enacted  a  new  law 
to  permit  them. 

The  fair  captive  of  Marienburg,  who  had 
taken  the  name  of  Catherine,  had  a  soul  superior 
to  her  sex  and  her  misfortunes.  She  rendered 
herself  so  agreeable  to  the  czar,  that  this  prince 
would  have  her  always  near  his  person.  She 
accompanied  him  in  all  his  excursions,  and  most 
fatiguing  campaigns  :  sharing  in  his  toils,  and 
softening  his  uneasiness  by  her  natural  gaiety, 
and  the  great  attention  she  shewed  to  oblige  him 
on  all  occasions,  and  the  indifference  she  ex- 
pressed for  the  luxury,  dress,  and  other  indul- 
gences, of  which  the  generality  of  her  sex  are,  in 
other  countries,  wont  to  make  real  necessities. 
She  frequently  softened  the  passionate  temper  of 
the  czar,  and,  by  making  him  more  clement  and 
merciful,  rendered  him  more  truly  great.  In  a 
word,  she  became  so  necessary  to  him,  that  he 
married  her  privately,  in  1707.  He  had  already 
two  daughters  by  her,  and  the  following  year  she 
bore  him  a  third,  who  was  afterwards  married 
to  the  duke  of  Holstein.* 

•  This  duke  of  Holstein,  at  the  time  he  married  the 
daughter  of  Peter  I.  was  a  prince  of  very  inconsiderable 
power,  though  of  one  of  t.'ie  most  ancient  houses  in  Ger- 
maoy.      Ilia  ancestors  had  been  strijiped  of  great  part  of 


194  HISTORY  OF 

March  17,  1711.]  The  czar  made  this  private 
inaniage  known  the  very  day  he  set  out  with  her 
to  trr  the  fortune  of  his  arms  against  the  Turks. 
The  several  dispositions  he  had  made  seemed  to 
promise  a  successful  issue.  The  hetman  of  the 
Cossacks  was  to  keep  the  Tartars  m  awe,  who 
had  already  began  to  commit  ravages  in  the  Uk- 

their  dominions  by  the  kings  of  Denmark  ;  eo  that,  at 
the  time  of  this  marriage,  he  found  himself  srreaily  cir- 
cumscribed in  point  of  possessions  ;  bat,  from  this  epoch 
of  his  alliance  with  the  czar  of  Muscovy,  «-e  may  date 
the  rise  of  the  ducal  branch  of  Holsiein,  which  now  fillg 
the  thrones  of  Russia  and  Sweden,  and  is  likewise  in  pos- 
session of  the  bishopric  of  Lubec,  which,  iu  all  probabi- 
lity, will  fall  to  this  house,  notwithstanding  the  late 
election,  which  at  present  is  the  sutject  of  litigation,  the 
iss'ie  of  which  will,  to  all  appearance,  terminate  in  favour 
of  the  prince,  son  to  the  present  bishop,  through  the  pro- 
tection of  the  courts  cf  Vienna  and  Petersburg.  The 
empress  Catherine,  who  now  sits  on  the  throne  of  Russia 
is  herself  descended  from  this  aujrtist  house,  by  the  side 
of  her  mother,  who  was  sister  to  the  king  of  Sweden,  to 
the  prince-bishop  of  Lubec,  and  to  the  famous  prince 
George  of  Holstein,  whose  achievements  made  so  msch 
noise  during  the  war.  This  princess,  whose  name  was 
Elizabeth,  married  the  reigning  prince  of  Anbak  Zerbst, 
whose  house  was  indisputably  the  most  ancient  ;  and,  in 
former  times,  the  most  powerful  in  all  Germany,  since 
they  can  trace  thoir  pedigree  from  the  dukes  of  Ascanis, 
who  were  formerly  masters  of  the  two  electorates  of  Sax- 
ony and  Brandenburg,  as  appears  by  their  armorial  bear- 
ings, which  are,  quarterly,  the  arms  of  Saxony  and  Bran- 
denburg. Of  this  branch  of  Zerbst  there  is  remaining 
onlj'  the  present  reigning  prince,  brother  to  the  empresi 
Catherine,  who,  in  case  he  should  die  without  issue,  wiU 
succeed  to  the  principality  of  Yevern,  in  East  f  riesland  ; 
from  all  which  it  appears  already,  that  the  family  of 
Hclstein  is  at  present  the  most  powerful  in  Europe,  a« 
being  in  possession  of  three  crowns  in  the  Korth. — [Since 
the  above  was  written  important  changes  havotaken  place.] 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  195 

raine.  The  main  body  of  the  Russian  army  was 
advancing  towards  Niester,  and  another  body  of 
troops,  under  prince  Galitzin,  were  in  full  march 
through  Poland.  Every  thing  went  on  favourably 
at  the  beginning  :  for  Galitzin  having  met  with  a 
numerous  body  of  Tartars  near  Kiow,  who  had 
been  joined  by  some  Cossacks  and  some  Poles  of 
king  Stanislaus'  party,  as  also  a  few  Swedes,  he 
defeated  them  entirely,  and  killed  near  five  thou- 
sand men.  These  Tartars  had,  in  their  ma«ch 
through  the  open  country,  made  about  ten  thou- 
sand prisoners.  Is  has  been  the  custom  of  the 
Tartars,  time  immemorial,  to  carry  with  them  a 
much  greater  number  of  cords  than  scimitars,  in 
order  to  bind  the  unhappy  wretches  they  surprise. 
The  captives  v/ere  all  set  free,  and  those  who  had 
made  them  prisoners  were  put  to  the  sword. 
The  whole  Russian  army,  if  it  had  been  assem- 
bled together,  would  have  amounted  to  sixty 
thousand  men.  It  was  t*o  have  been  farther  aug- 
mented by  the  troops  belonging  to  the  king  of 
Poland.  This  prince,  who  owed  every  thing  to 
the  czar,  came  to  pay  him  a  visit  at  Jaroslaw,  on 
the  river  Sana,  the  3d  of  June,  1714,  and  pro- 
mised him  powerful  succours.  War  was  now 
declared  against  the  Turks,  in  the  name  of  these 
two  monarchs  :  but  the  Polish  diet,  not  willing 
to  break  with  the  Ottoman  Porte,  refused  to  ra- 
tify the  engagement  their  king  had  entered  into. 
It  was  the  fate  of  the  czar  to  hav«,  in  the  king 
of  Poland,  an  ally  who  could  never  be  of  any  ser- 
vice to  him.  He  entertained  the  same  hopes  of 
assistance  from  the  princes  of  Moldavia  and  Wa- 
lachia,  and  was,  in  the  like  manner,  disappointed. 
These  two  provinces  ought  to  have  taken  this 
opportunity  to  shake  off  the  'I'urkish  yoke.  These 
countries  were  those  of  the  ancient  Daci,  who, 
together  with  the  Gepidi,  with  whom  they  were 


196  HISTORY  OF 

intermixed,  did,  for  a  long  time,  di-rur't  the 
Roman  empire.  They  were  at  leiij^tii  subdued 
by  the  emperor  Trajan,  and  Constaniine  the  First 
made  them  embrace  the  Christian  religion.  Dacia 
was  cue  of  the  provinces  of  the  eastern  empire  ; 
but  shortly  after  these  very  people  contributed 
to  the  ruin  of  that  of  the  west,  by  serving  under 
the  Odoacers  and  Theodorics. 

They  afterwards  continued  to  be  subject  to  the 
Greek  empire  ;  and  when  the  Turks  made  ihem- 
se  ves  masters  of  Constantinople,  were  governed 
and  oppressed  by  paiticular  princes;  at  length 
they  were  totally  subjected  by  the  Padisha,  or 
Tu'kish  emperor,  who  now  granted  them  an  in- 
vestiture. The  Hospodar,  or  Waiwod,  chosen 
by  the  Ottoman  Porte  to  govern  these  provinces, 
is  always  a  Christian  of  the  Greek  church.  Tho 
Turks,  by  this  choice,  give  a  proof  of  their  tolera- 
tion, while  our  ignorant  declaimers  are  accusing 
them  of  pei-secution.  The  prince,  nominated,  by 
the  Porte,  is  tributary  to.  or  rather  farms  these 
countries  of  the  grand  seignior  ;  this  dignity  being 
alwavs  conferred  on  the  best  bidder,  or  him  who 
makes  the  greatest  presents  to  the  vizier,  in  like 
manner  as  the  Greek  patriarch,  at  Constanti- 
nople. Sometimes  this  government  is  bestowed 
on  a  dragoman,  that  is  to  say,  the  interpreter  to 
the  divan.  These  provinces  are  seldom  under 
the  government  of  the  same  Waiwod,  the  Porte 
choosing  to  divide  them,  in  order  to  be  more  sure 
of  retaining  them  in  subjection.  Demetrius  Can- 
temir,  was  at  this  time  ^Vaiwod  of  Moldavia. 
This  prince  was  said  to  be  descended  from  Ta- 
merlane, because  Tamerlane's  true  name  waa 
Timur,  and  Timur  was  a  Tartarian  khan  ;  and 
so,  from  the  name  Tamurkau,  say  they,  cwne 
the  family  of  Canterair. 

Bassaraba  Brancovan  had  been  invested  ic**^ 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  197 

the  principality  of  Walachia,  but  had  not  found 
any  genealogist  to  deduce  his  pedigree  from  the 
Tartarian  conqueror.  Cantemir  thought  the  time 
now  come  to  shake  off  the  Turkish  yoke,  and 
render  himself  independent  by  means  of  the  czar's 
protection.  In  this  view  he  acted  in  the  very 
same  manner  with  Peter  as  Mazeppa  had  done 
with  Charles  XII.  He  even  engaged  Bassaraba 
for  the  present  to  join  him  in  the  conspiracy,  of 
which  he  hoped  to  reap  all  the  benefit  himself: 
his  plan  being  to  make  himself  master  of  both 
provinces.  The  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  who  was 
at  that  time  at  Walachia,  was  the  soul  of  this 
conspiracy.  Cantemir  promised  the  czar  to  fur- 
nish him  with  men  and  provisions,  as  Mazeppa 
did  the  king  of  Sweden,  and  kept  his  word  no 
better  thin  he  had  done. 

General  Sheremeto  advanced  towards  Jassi. 
the  capital  of  Moldavia,  to  inspect  and  occasion- 
ally assist  the  execution  of  these  great  pro- 
•ects.  Cantemir  came  thither  to  meet  him,  and 
was  received  with  all  the  honours  due  to  a 
prince  :  but  he  acted  as  a  prince  in  no  one  cir- 
cumstance, but  that  of  publishing  a  manifesto 
against  the  I'urkish  empire.  The  hospodar  of 
Walachia,  who  soon  discovered  the  ambitious 
views  of  iiis  colleague,  quitted  his  party,  and  re- 
turned to  his  duty.  I'he  bishop  of  Jerusalem 
dreading,  with  reason,  the  punishment  due  to  his 
perfidy,  fled  and  concealed  himself:  the  people 
of  Walachia  and  Moldavia  continued  faitliful  to 
the  Ottoman  Porte,  and  those,  who  were  tohav« 
furnished  provisions  for  the  Russian  army,  carried 
them  to  the  Turks. 

The  vizier,  Baltagi  Mahomet  had  already 
crossed  the  Danube,  at  the  head  of  onfe  hundred 
thousand  men,  and  was  advancing  towards  Jassi, 
along  the  banks  of  the  river  Prutli  (formerly  iho 


198  HISTORY  OF 

Hierasus),  whicli  falls  into  the  Danube,  and 
which  is  nearly  the  boundary  of  Moldavia  and 
Bessarabia.  He  then  dispatched  count  Ponia- 
towsky,*  a  Polish  gentleman,  attached  to  the  for- 

•  This  same  count  Poniatowsky,  who  was  at  that  time 
in  the  service  of  Charles  XII.  died  afterwards  castellan 
ofCracovia,  and  first  seDator  of  the  republic  of  Poland, 
after  having  enjoyed  all  the  dignities  to  which  a  noblbman 
of  that  country  can  attain.  His  connexions  with  Charles 
XII.  during  that  prince's  retirement  at  Bender,  first  made 
tim  taken  notice  of;  and,  it  is  to  be  wished,  for  the  honour 
of  his  memory,  that  he  had  waited  till  the  conclusion  of  a 
peace  between  Sweden  and  Poland,  to  be  reconciled  to 
'  king  Augustus  ;  but  following  the  dictates  of  ambition, 
rather  than  those  of  strict  honour,  he  sacrificed  the  in- 
terests of  both  Charles  and  Stanislaus,  to  the  care  of  his 
own  fortune  ;  and,  while  he  appeared  the  most  zealous  in 
their  cause,  he  secretly  did  them  all  the  ill  services  he 
could  at  the  Ottoman  Porte  :  to  this  double  dealing  he 
owed  the  immense  fortune  of  which  he  was  afterwards 
possessed.  lie  married  the  princess  Czartoriski,  daugliter 
of  the  castellan  of  Vilna,  a  lady,  for  her  heroic  spirit, 
worth}'  to  have  been  born  in  the  times  of  ancient  Rome  : 
when  her  eldest  son,  the  present  grand  chamberlain  of  the 
crown,  had  that  famous  dispute  with  Count  Tarlo,  pala* 
tine  of  Lublin  ;  a  dispute  which  made  so  much  noise  in  all 
the  public  papers  in  the  year  1742,  this  lady,  after  having 
made  him  shoot  at  a  mark  every  day,  for  three  weeks,  in 
order  to  be  expert  at  firing,  said  to  him,  as  he  was  mount- 
ing his  horse,  to  go  to  meet  his  adversar}' — '  Go,  mv  son  ; 
but,  if  you  do  not  acquit  yourself  with  honour  in  this 
affair,  never  appear  before  me  again.'  This  anecdote  may 
ierre  as  a  specimen  of  the  character  of  our  heroine,  i  he 
family  of  Czartoriski  is  descended  from  the  ancient  Jagel- 
lins,  who  were,  for  several  ages,  in  lineal  possession  of 
the  crown  of  Poland  ;  and  is,  at  this  day.  extremely  rich 
and  powerful,  by  the  alliances  it  has  coinracied,  but  they 
have  never  been  able  to  acquire  popularity  ;  and  so  long 
as  count  Tarlo  ^^^who  was  killed  in  a  duel  with  the  young 
count  Poniatowsky)  lived,  had  no  influeuce  in  the  die- 
tinea,    i;r  lesser   assembly  of  the  statos,  because   Tarlo, 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  199 

uineBof  the  king  of  Sweden,  to  desire  that  prince 
to  make  him  a  visit,  and  see  his  army.  Charles, 
whose  pride  always  got  the  better  of  his  interest, 
would  not  consent  to  this  proposal  :  he  insisted 
that  the  grand  vizier  should  make  him  the  first 
visit,  in  his  asylum  near  Bender.  When  Ponia- 
towsky  returned  to  the  Ottoman  camp,  and  en- 
deavoured to  excuse  this  refusal  of  his  master, 
the  vizier,  turning  to  the  khan  of  the  Tartars,  said, 
'  This  is  the  very  behaviour  I  expected  from  this 
proud  pagan.'  This  mutual  pride,  which  never 
fails  of  alienating  the  minds  of  those  in  power 
from  each  other,  did  no  service  to  the  king  of 
Sweden's  affairs  ;  and  indeed  that  prince  might 
have  easily  perceived,  from  the  beginning,  that 
the  Turks  were  not  acting  for  his  interest,  but  for 
their  own. 

While  the  Turkish  army  was  passing  the 
Danube,  the  czar  advanced  by  the  frontiers  of 
Poland,  and  passed  the  Boristhenes,  in  order  to 
relieve  marshal  Sheremeto,  who  was  then  on  the 
banks  of  the  Pruth,  to  the  southward  of  Jassi, 
and  in  danger  of  being  daily  surrounded  by  an 
army  of  ten  thousand  Turks,  and  an  army  of 
Tartars.  Peter,  before  he  passed  the  Boristhenes, 
was  in  doubt  whether  he  should  expose  his  be- 
loved Catherine  to  these  dangers,  which  seemed 
to  increase  every  day  ;  but  Catherine,  on  her  side, 
looked  upon  this  solicitude  of  the  czar,  for  her 
ease  and  safety,  as  an  affront  offered  to  her  love 
and  courage  ;  and  pressed  her  consort  so  strongly 
on  this  head,  that  he  found  himself  under  a  ne- 
cessity to  consent  that  she  should  pass  the  river 
with  him.  The  army  beheld  her  with  eyes  of  joy 

who  was  the  idol  of  the  nobles,  and  a  sworn  enemy  to  the 
Czartorisli  family,  carried  every  tiling  before  him,  and 
nothing  was  done  but  according  to  his  pleasure. 


200  HISTORY  OF 

and  admiration,  marching  on  horseback  at  the 
head  of  the  troops,  for  she  rarely  made  use  of  a 
carriage.  After  passing  the  Boristhenes,  they 
had  a  tract  of  desert  country  to  pass  through,  and 
then  to  cross  the  Bog,  and  afterwards  the  river 
Tiras,  now  called  the  Niester,  and  then  another 
desert  to  traverse,  before  they  came  to  the  hanks 
of  the  Pruth.  Catherine,  during  this  fatiguing 
marv"h,  animated  the  whole  army  by  her  cheer- 
fulness and  affability.  She  sent  refreshments  to 
such  of  the  oflBcers  who  were  sick,  and  extended 
her  care  even  to  the  meanest  soldier. 

July4,  1711.]  At  length  the  czar  brought  his 
army  in  sight  of  Jassi.  Here  he  was  to  establish 
his  magazine.  Bassaraba,  the  hospodar  of  Wa- 
lachia,  who  had  again  embraced  the  interest  of 
the  Ottoman  Porte,  but  still,  in  appearance,  con- 
tinued a  friend  to  the  czar,  proposed  to  that 
prince  to  make  peace  with  the  Turks,  although 
he  had  received  no  commission  from  the  grand 
vizier  for  that  purpose.  His  deceit,  however,  was 
Boon  discovered ;  and  the  czar  contented  himself 
with  demanding  only  provisions  for  his  army, 
which  Bassaraba  neither  could  nor  would  furnish. 
It  was  very  difficult  to  procure  anv  supplies  from 
Poland  ;  and  these,  which  prince  Cantemir  had 
promised,  and  which  he  vainly  hoped  to  procure 
from  Walachia,  could  not  be  brought  from  thence. 
These  disappointments  rendered  the  situation  of 
the  Russian  army  very  disagreeable  ;  and,  as  an 
addition  to  their  aflflictions,  they  were  infested 
with  an  immense  swarm  of  grasshoppers,  that 
covered  the  face  of  the  whole  country,  and 
devoured,  or  s-poiled,  every  thing  where  they 
alighted.  Thev  were  likewise  frequently  in  want 
of  water  during  their  march  through  sandy  de- 
serts, and  beneath  a  scorching  sun  :  what  little 
they  could  procure,  they  were   obliged  to  have 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  ?01 

brought  in  vessels  to  the  camp,  from  a  consider- 
able distance. 

During  this  dangerous  and  fatiguing  march, 
the  czar,  by  a  singuhir  fatality,  found  himself  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  his  rival  and  competitor, 
Charles  ;  Bender  not  being  above  twenty-five 
leagues  from  the  place  where  the  Russian  army 
was  encamped,  near  Jassi.  Some  parties  of  Cos- 
sacks made  excursions  even  to  the  place  of  that 
unfortunate  monarch's  retreat ;  but  the  Crim  Tar- 
tars, who  hovered  round  that  part  of  the  country, 
sufficiently  secured  him  from  any  attempt  that 
might  be  made  to  seize  his  person  ;  and  Charles 
waited  in  his  camp  with  impatience,  and  did  not 
fear  the  is:>ue  of  the  war. 

Peter,  as  soon  as  he  had  established  some  ma- 
gazines, marched  in  haste  with  his  army  to  the 
right  of  the  river  Pruth.  His  essential  object 
was  to  prevent  the  Turks,  who  were  posted  to 
the  left,  and  towards  the  head  of  the  river,  from, 
crossing  it,  and  marching  towards  him.  This 
effected,  he  would  then  be  master  of  Moldavia 
and  Walachia :  with  this  view,  he  dispatched 
general  Janus,  with  the  vanguard  of  the  army, 
to  oppose  the  passage  of  the  Turks ;  but  the  ge- 
neral did  not  arrive  till  they  had  already  began 
to  cross  the  river  upon  their  bridges  ;  upon  which 
he  was  obliged  to  retreat,  and  his  infantry  was 
closely  pursued  by  the  Turks,  till  the  czar  came 
jp  in  person  to  his  assistance. 

The  grand  vizier  now  marched  directly  along  the 
river  towards  the  czar.  The  two  armies  were  very 
nnequal  in  point  of  numbers  :  that  of  the  Turks, 
which  had  been  reinforced  by  theTartarian  troops, 
consisted  of  nearly  two  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand men,  while  that  of  the  Russians  hardly 
amounted  to  thirty-five  thousand.  There  was 
indeed  a  considerable  body  of  troops,  headed  by 
It 


202  HISTORY  OF 

general  Renne,  on  their  march  from  the  other 
side  of  the  Moldavian  mouutains ;  but  the 
Turks  bad  cut  off  all  communication  with  those 
parts. 

The  czar's  army  now  began  to  be  in  want  of 
provisions,  nor  could,  without  the  greatest  diffi- 
culty, procure  water,  though  encamped  alaverj 
small  (iisumce  from  the  river;  being  exposed  to 
a  furioiii  discharge  from  the  batteries,  which 
the  grand  vizier  had  caused  to  be  erected  on 
the  left  ^ide  of  the  river,  under  the  care  of  a 
body  of  troops,  that  kept  up  a  constant  fire 
against  the  Russians.  By  this  relation,  which 
is  strictly  circumstantial  and  true,  it  appears 
that  Baltagi  Mahomet,  the  Turkish  vizier,  far 
from  being  the  pusillanimous,  or  weak  com- 
mander, which  the  Swedes  have  represented  him, 
gave  proofs,  on  this  occasion,  tiiat  he  perfectly 
■well  understood  his  business.  The  passing  the 
Pruth  in  the  sight  of  the  enemy,  obliging  him  to 
retreat,  and  harassing  him  in  that  retreat ;  the 
cutting  off  all  communication  between  the  czar's 
army,  and  a  body  of  cavalry  that  was  marching 
to  reinforce  it ;  the  hemming  in  tbis  army, 
without  the  least  probability  of  a  retreat ;  and 
the  cutting  off  all  supplies  of  water  and  pro- 
visions, by  keeping  it  constantly  under  the 
check  of  the  batteries  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  river,  were  manoeuvres  that  in  no  ways  be- 
spoke the  unexperienced  or  indolent  general. 

Peter  now  saw  himself  in  a  situation  even 
worse  than  that  to  which  he  had  reduced  his 
rival,  Charles  XII.  at  Pultowa  ;  being,  like  him, 
surrounded  by  a  superior  army,  and  in  greater 
want  of  provisions  ;  and,  like  him,  having  con- 
fided in  the  promises  of  a  prince,  too  powerful 
to  be  bound  by  those  promises,  he  resolved 
aoon  a  retreat  :  and   endeavoured  to  return  to- 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  203 

wards  Jassi,  in  order  to  choose  a  more  advan- 
tageous situation  for  his  camp. 

JuJy'20, 1711]  He  accordingly  decamped  under 
favour  of  the  night;  but  his  array  bad  scarcely 
begun  its  march,  when,  at  break  of  day,  the  Turks 
fell  upon  his  rear  ,:  but  the  Preobrazinski  regi- 
ment turning  about,  and  standing  firm,  did,  for 
a  considerable  time,  check  the  fury  of  their 
onset.  The  Russians  then  formed  themselves, 
and  made  a  line  of  intrenchments  with  their 
waggons  and  baggage.  The  same  day  (July  21.) 
the  I  urks  returned  a^in  to  the  attack,  with  the 
"whole  body  of  their  army  ;  and,  as  a  proof  that 
the  Russians  knew  how  to  defend  themselves, 
let  what  will  be  alleged  to  the  contrary,  they 
also  made  head  against  this  very  superior  force 
for  a  considerable  time,  killed  a  great  number 
of  their  enemies,  who  in  vain  endeavoured  to 
break  in  upon  them. 

There  were  in  the  Ottoman  army  two  officers 
belonging  to  the  king  of  Sweden,  namely,  count 
Poniatowsky  and  the  count  of  Sparre,  who  had 
the  command  of  a  body  of  Cossacks  in  that 
prince's  interest.  My  papers  inform  me,  that 
these  two  generals  advised  the  grand  vizier  to 
avoid  coming  to  action  with  the  Russians,  and 
content  himself  with  depriving  them  of  supplies 
of  water  and  provisions,  which  would  oblige 
them  either  to  surrender  prisoners  of  war,  or  to 
perish  with  famine  .  other  memoirs  pretend,  on 
the  contrary,  that  these  oflScers  would  have  per- 
suaded Mahomet  to  fall  upon  this  feeble  and 
half-starved  army,  in  a  weak  and  distressed  con- 
dition, and  put  all  to  the  sword.  The  first  of 
these  eeems  to  be  the  most  prudent  and  circum- 
Bpect  ;  but  the  second  is  more  agreeable  to  the 
character  of  generals  who  had  been  trained  up 
under  Charles  XII. 


S04  HISTORY  OF 

The  real  fact  is,  that  the  grand  vizier  fell 
upon  the  rear  of  the  Russian  army,  at  the  dawn 
of  day,  which  was  thrown  into  confusion,  and 
there  remained  only  a  line  of  four  hundred  men 
to  confront  the  Turks.  This  small  body  formed 
itself  with  amazing  quickness,  under  the  orders 
of  a  German  general,  named  Alard,  who,  to  hia 
immortal  honour,  made  such  rapid  and  excellent 
dispositions  on  this  occasion,  that  the  Russians 
withstood,  for  upwards  of  three  hours,  the  re- 
peated attack  of  the  whole  Ottoman  army,  with- 
out losing  a  foot  of  ground. 

The  czar  now  found  himself  amply  repaid  for 
the  immense  pains  he  had  taken  to  inure  his 
troops  to  strict  discipline.  At  the  battle  of 
Marva,  sixty  thousand  men  were  defeated  by 
only  eight  thousand,  because  the  former  were 
undisciplined  ;  and  here  we  behold  a  rear-guard, 
consisting  of  only  eight  thousand  Russians,  sus- 
taining the  efforts  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  Turks,  killing  seven  thousand  of  tbem, 
and  obliging  the  rest  to  return  back. 

After  this  sharp  engagement,  both  armies  in- 
trenched themselves  for  that  night :  but  the 
Russians  still  continued  enclosed,  and  deprived 
of  all  provisions,  even  water  ;  for  notwithstand- 
ing they  were  so  near  the  river  Pruth,  yet  they 
did  not  dare  approach  its  banks ;  for  as  soon  as 
any  parties  were  sent  out  to  find  water,  a  body 
of  Turks,  posted  on  the  opposite  s-hore,  drove 
them  back  by  a  furious  discharge  from  their 
cannon,  loaded  with  chain  shot :  and  the  body 
of  the  Turkish  army,  which  had  attacked  that 
of  the  czar  the  daj  before,  continued  to  play 
upon  them  from  another  quarter,  with  the  whole 
force  of  their  artillery. 

The  Russian  army  appeared  now  to  be  lost  be- 
yond resource,  by  its  position,  by  the  inequality 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  206 

of  numbers,  and  by  the  want  of  provisioas. 
The  skirmishes  on  both  sides  were  frequent  and 
bloody  :  the  Russian  cavalry  being  almost  ail 
dismounted,  could  no  longer  be  of  any  service, 
unless  by  fighting  on  foot:  in  a  word,  the  situa- 
tion of  affairs  was  desperate.  It  was  out  o! 
their  power  to  retreat,  they  had  nothing  left  but 
to  gain  a  complete  victory  ;  to  perish  to  the  last 
man,  or  to  be  made  slaves  by  the  infidels. 

All  the  accounts  and  memoirs  of  those  times 
unanimously  agree,  that  the  czrar,  divided  within 
himself,  whether  or  not  he  should  expose  his 
wife,  his  army,  his  empire,  and  the  fruits  of  all 
his  labours,  to  almost  inevitable  destruction  ;  re- 
tired to  his  tent,  oppressed  with  grief,  and  seized 
with  violent  convulsions,  to  which  he  was 
naturally  subject,  and  wliich  the  present  despe- 
rate situation  of  his  affairs  brought  upon  him 
with  redoubled  violence.  In  this  condition  he 
remained  alone  in  his  ten.t,  having  g'uven  posi- 
tive orders,  that  no  one  shonld  be  admitted  to 
be  a  witness  to  the  distraction  of  his  mind. 
But  Catherine,  hearing  of  his  disorders,  forced 
her  way  in  to  him  ;  and,  on  this  occasion,  Peter 
found  how  happy  it  was  for  him  that  he  had 
permitted  his  wife  to  accompany  him  in  this  ex- 
pedition. 

A  wife,  who,  like  her,  had  faced  death  in  its 
most  horrible  shapes,  and  had  exposed  her  per- 
son, like  the  meanest  soldier,  to  the  fire  of  the 
Turkish  artillery,  had  an  undoubted  right  to 
apeak  to  her  hushand,  and  to  be  heard.  The 
czar  accordingly  listened  to  what  she  had  to  say, 
and  in  tho  end  suffered  himself  to  be  persuaded 
to  try  and  send  to  the  vizier  with  proposalt 
of  peace. 

It  has  !.een  a  custom,  from  time  immemorial, 
thruughout  the  East,  that  when  any  people  ap« 


206  HISrORY  OF 

ply  for  an  audience  of  the  sovereign,  or  his  re- 
presentative, they  must  not  presume  to  approach 
them  without  a  present.  On  this  occasion, 
therefore,  Catherine  mustered  the  few  jewels 
that  she  had  brought  with  her,  on  this  military 
tour,  in  which  no  magnificence  or  luxury  were 
admitted  ;  to  these  she  added  two  black  foxes' 
skins,  and  what  ready  money  she  could  collect ; 
the  latter  was  designed  for  a  present  to  the 
kiaia.  She  made  choice  herself  of  an  officer,  on 
whose  fidelity  and  understanding  she  thought 
she  could  depend,  who,  accompanied  with  two 
servants,  was  to  carry  the  presents  to  the  grand 
vizier,  and  afterwards  to  deliver  the  money  in- 
tended for  the  kiaia  into  his  own  hand.  This 
officer  was  likewise  charged  with  a  letter  from 
marshal  Sheremeto  to  the  grand  vizier.  The 
memoirs  of  czar  Peter  mentions  this  letter,  but 
they  take  no  notice  of  the  other  particulars  of 
Catheriue's  conduct  in  this  business  ;  however, 
they  are  sufficiently  confirmed  by  the  declara- 
tion issued  by  Peter  himself,  in  ITi^S,  when  he 
caused  Catherine  to  be  crowned  empress, 
wherein  we  find  these  words  : — '  She  has  been 
of  the  greatest  assistance  to  us  in  all  our  dangers, 
and  particularly  in  the  battle  of  Pruth,  when  our 
army  was  reduced  to  twenty-two  thousand  men.' 
If  the  cz:ir  had  then  indeed  no  more  men  capa- 
ble of  bearing  arms,  the  service  which  Catherine 
did  him,  on  that  occasion,  was  fully  equivalent 
to  the  honours  and  dignities  conferred  upon  her. 
The  MS.  journal  of  Peter  the  Great  observes, 
that  on  the  dav  of  the  bloody  battle  (on  the  20th 
July),  he  had  thirty-one  thousand  five  hundred 
and  fifty-four  foot,  and  six  thousand  si.t  hundred 
aad  ninety-two  horse,  the  latter  almost  all  dis- 
mounted ;  he  must  then  have  lost  sixteen  thou- 
sand two  hundred  and  fortv-six  men  in  that  en- 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  207 

gagement.  The  same  memoirs  affirm,  the  loss 
sustained  hy  the  Turks  greatly  exceeded  that  of 
the  Russians  ;  for  as  the  former  rushed  upon 
the  czar's  troops  pell-mell,  and  without  observ- 
ing any  order,'  hardly  a  single  fire  of  the  latter 
missed  its  effect.  If  this  is  fact,  the  affair  of 
•  he  iOth  and  i'lst  of  July,  was  one  of  the  most 
bloody  that  had  been  known  for  many  ages. 

We  must  either  suspect  Peter  the  Great  of 
having  been  mistaken,  in  his  declaration  at  the 
crowning  of  the  empress,  when  he  acknowledges 
'  his  obli^'ations  to  her  of  having  saved  his 
army,  which  was  reduced  to  twenty-two  thou- 
sand men,'  or  accuse  him  of  a  falsity  in  his 
journal,  wherein  he  says,  that  the  day  on  which 
the  above  battle  was  fought,  his  army,  exclusive 
of  the  succours  he  expected  from  the  other  side 
the  Moldavian  mountains,  amounted  to  thirty- 
one  thousand  five  hundred  and  fifty-four  foot, 
and  six  thousand  six  hundred  and  nine  two 
horse.  According  to  this  calculation,  the  battle 
of  Pruth  must  have  been  by  far  more  terrible 
than  the  historians  or  memorials  have  repre- 
sented on  either  side.  There  must  certainly  be 
some  mistake  here,  which  is  no  uncommon  thing 
in  the  relation  of  campaigns,  especially  when 
the  writer  enters  into  a  minute  detail  of  cir- 
cumstances. The  surest  method,  therefore,  on 
these  occasions,  is  to  confine  ourselves  to  the 
principal  events,  the  victory  and  the  defeat ;  as 
we  can  very  seldom  know,  with  any  degree  of 
certainty,  the  exact  loss  on  either  side. 

IJut  however  here  the  Russian  army  might  be 
reduced  in  point  of  numbers,  there  were  still 
hopes  that  tlie  grand  vizier,  deceived  by  their 
vigorous  and  obstinate  resistance,  might  be  in- 
duced to  grant  them  peace,  upon  such  terms  as 
might  be  honourable  to  his  master's  arms,  and 


808  HISTORY  OF 

at  the  same  time  not  absolutely  disgraceful  to 
those  of  the  czar.  It  was  the  great  merit  of 
Catherine  to  bdve  perceived  this  possibility,  at  a 
time  when  her  ccnsort  and  his  generals  expected 
nothing  less  than  inevitable  destruction. 

Norberg,  in  his  History  of  Charles  XII.  quotes 
a  letter,  sent  by  the  czar  to  the  grand  viiier,  in 
which  he  expresses  himself  thus  : — '  If,  con- 
trary to  my  intentions,  I  hive  been  so  unhappy 
as  to  incur  the  displeasure  of  his  highness.  I  am 
ready  to  make  reparation  for  any  cause  of  com- 
plaint he  may  have  against  me  ;  I  conjure  you, 
most  noble  general,  to  prevent  the  further  effu- 
sion of  blood  ;  give  orders,  I  beseech  you,  to  put 
a  stop  to  the  dreadful  fire  of  your  artillery,  and 
accept  the  hostage  I  herewith  send  you' 

This  letter  carries  all  the  marks  of  falsity  with 
it,  as  do  indeed  most  of  the  random  pieces  of 
Norberg:  it  is  dated  11th  July.  N.  S.  whereas 
no  letter  was  sent  to  Baltagi  Mahomet  till  the 
21st,  N.  S.  neither  was  it  the  czar  who  wrote  to 
the  vizier,  but  his  general  Sheremeto  :  there 
were  no  such  expressions  made  use  of  as — '  if 
the  czar  has  had  the  misfortune  to  incur  the  dis- 
pleasure of  his  highness  ;'  such  terms  being  suit- 
able only  to  a  subject,  who  implores  the  pardon 
of  his  sovereign,  whom  he  has  offended.  There 
was  no  mention  made  of  any  hostage,  nor  was 
any  one  sent.  The  letter  was  carried  by  an 
officer,  in  the  midst  of  a  furious  cannonade  on 
both  sides.  Sheremeto,  in  his  letter,  only  re- 
minded the  vizier  of  certain  overtures  of  peace 
that  the  Porte  had  made  at  the  beginning  of  the 
campaign,  through  the  mediation  of  the  Dutch 
and  English  ministers,  and  by  which  the  divan 
demanded  that  the  fort  and  harbour  of  Taganroc 
should  be  given  up,  which  were  the  real  subject* 
of  the  war. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  209 

fist  July,  1711.]  Some  hours  elapsed  before 
the  messenger  received  an  answer  from  the  grand 
vizier,  and  it  was  apprehended  that  he  had  either 
been  killed  by  the  enemy's  cannon,  or  that  they 
detained  him  prisoner.  A  second  courier  was 
therefore  dispatched,  with  duplicates  of  the  for- 
mer letters,  and  a  council  of  war  was  immedi- 
ately held,  at  which  Catherine  was  present.  At 
this  council  ten  general  officers  signed  the  follow- 
ing resolution  :  — 

'  Resolved,  If  the  enemy  will  not  accept  the 
conditions  proposed,  and  should  insist  upon  our 
laying  down  our  arms,  and  surrendering  at  dis- 
cretion, that  all  the  ministers  and  general  officers 
are  unanimously  of  opinion,  to  cut  their  way 
through  the  enemy  sword  in  hand.' 

In  consequence  of  this  resolution,  a  line  of  in- 
trenchments  was  thrown  round  the  baggage,  and 
the  Russians  marched  some  few  paces  out  of  their 
camp,  towards  the  enemy,  when  the  grand  vizier 
caused  a  suspension  of  arms  to  be  proclaimed 
between  the  two  armies. 

All  the  writers  of  the  Swedish  party  have 
treated  the  grand  vizier  as  a  cowardly  and  infa- 
mous wretch,  who  had  been  bribed  in  sell  the 
honour  of  his  master's  arms.  In  the  same  man- 
ner have  several  authors  accused  fount  Piper  of 
receiving  money  from  the  duke  of  Marlborough, 
to  persuade  the  king  of  Sweden  to  continue  the 
war  against  the  czar ;  and  have  laid  to  the  charge 
of  the  French  minister,  that  he  purchased  the 
peace  of  Seville  for  a  stipulated  sum.  Such  ac- 
cusations ought  never  to  be  advanced  but  on 
very  strong  proofs.  It  is  very  seldom  that  a  mi- 
nister will  stoop  to  such  meannesses,  which  are 
always  discovered,  sooner  or  hiter,  by  those  who 
have  been  entrusted  with  the  payment  of  the 
money,  or  by  the  public  registers,  which  never 


210  HISTORY  OF 

lie.  A  minister  of  state  stands  as  a  public  objecf 
to  the  eyes  of  all  Europe.  His  credit  and  influ- 
ence depend  -wholly  upon  his  character,  and  he 
is  always  sufficiently  rich  to  be  above  the  temp- 
tation of  becoming  a  traitor. 

The  place  of  viceroy  of  the  Turkish  empire  is 
so  illustrious,  and  the  profits  annexed  to  it,  in 
time  of  war,  so  immense,  there  was  such  a  pro- 
fusion of  every  thing  necessary,  and  even  luxuri- 
oas,  in  the  camp  of  Baltagi  Mahomet,  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  so  much  poverty  and  distress  in 
that  of  the  czar,  that  surely  the  grand  vizier  was 
rather  in  a  condition  to  give  than  to  receive.  Tht 
trifling  present  of  a  woman,  who  had  nothing  tc 
send  but  a  few  skins  and  some  jewels,  in  com- 
pliance with  the  established  custom  of  all  courts, 
or  rather  those  in  particular  of  the  East,  can 
never  be  considered  in  the  light  of  a  bribe.  The 
frank  and  open  conduct  of  Baltagi  Mahomet 
seems  at  once  to  give  the  lie  to  the  black  accu- 
sations with  which  so  many  writers  have  stained 
their  relations.  Vice  chancellor  Shaffiroflfpaid 
the  vizier  a  public  visit  in  his  tent :'  every  thing 
was  transacted  in  the  most  open  mantier,  on 
both  sides  ;  and  indeed  it  could  not  be  other- 
wise. The  very  first  article  of  the  negotiation 
was  entered  upon  in  the  presence  of  a  person 
wholly  devoted  to  the  king  of  Sweden,  a  do- 
mestic of  count  Poniatowsky,  who  was  himself 
one  of  that  monarch's  generals.  This  man  served 
as  an  interpreter,  and  the  several  articles  were 
publicly  reduced  to  writing  by  the  vizier's  chief 
secretary,  Hummer  EfFendi.  Moreover,  count  Po- 
niatowsky was  there  in  person.  The  present  sent 
to  the  kiaia  was  offered  probably  in  form,  and 
every  thing  was  transacted  agreeable  to  the  ori- 
ental customs.  Other  presents  were  made  by  the 
Turks  in  return  :  so  that  there  was  not  the  least 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  211 

appearance  of  treachery  or  contrivance.  The  mo- 
tives which  determined  the  vizier  to  consent  to  the 
proposals  offered  him,  were,  first  that  the  body  of 
troops  under  the  command  of  general  Renne,  on 
the  borders  of  the  river  Sireth,  in  Moldavia,  had 
already  crossed  three  rivers,  and  were  actually 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Danube,  where  Renne 
had  already  made  himself  master  of  the  town  and 
castle  of  Brahila,  defended  by  a  numerous  gar- 
rison, under  the  command  of  a  basha.  Secondly, 
the  czar  had  likewise  another  body  of  troops  ad- 
vancing through  the  frontiers  of  Poland  ;  and, 
lastly,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  the  vizier  was 
not  fully  acquainted  with  the  extreme  scarcity 
that  was  felt  in  the  Russian  camp.  One  enemy 
seldom  furnishes  another  with  an  exact  account 
of  his  provisions  and  ammunition  ;  on  the  con- 
trary, either  side  are  accustomed  rather  to  make 
a  parade  of  plenty,  even  at  a  time  when  they  are 
in  the  greatest  necessity.  There  can  be  no  arti- 
fices practised  to  gain  intelligence  of  the  true 
state  of  an  adversaiy's  affairs,  by  means  of  spies, 
between  the  Turks  and  the  Russians.  The  dif- 
ference of  their  dress,  of  their  religion,  and  of 
their  language,  will  not  permit  it.  i'hey  are, 
moreover,  strangers  to  that  desertion  which  pre- 
vails in  most  of  our  armies  ;  and,  consequently, 
the  grand  vizier  could  not  be  supposed  to  know 
the  desperate  condition  to  which  the  czar's  army 
was  reduced. 

Baltagi,  who  was  not  fond  of  war,  and  who, 
nevertheless,  had  conducted  this  very  well, 
thought  that  his  expedition  would  be  sufficiently 
successful,  if  he  put  his  master  in  possession  of 
the  towns  and  harbours  which  made  the  subject 
of  the  war,  stopt  the  progress  of  the  victorious 
army  under  Uenne,  and  obliged  that  general  to 
qmt  the  banks  of  the  Danube,  and  return  back 


212  HISTORY  OF 

into  Russia,  and  for  ever  shut  the  entrance  of  the 
Falus  Mffiotis,  the  Cimmerian  Bosphorus,  and 
the  Black  Sea,  against  an  enterprising-  prince  ; 
and,  lastly,  if  he  avoided  taking  these  certain 
advantages,  on  the  hazard  of  a  new  battle  (in 
which,  after  aM,  despair  might  have  got  the  bet- 
ter of  superiority  of  numbers).  The  preceding 
day  only  he  had  beheld  his  janissaries  repulsed 
with  loss  ;  and  there  wanted  not  examples  ol 
many  victories  having  been  gained  by  the  weaker 
over  the  strong.  Such  then  were  Mahomet's 
reasons  for  accepting  the  proposals  of  peace. 
His  conduct,  however,  did  not  merit  the  appro- 
bation of  Charles's  officers,  who  served  in  the 
Turkish  army,  nor  of  the  khan  of  Tartary.  It 
was  the  interest  of  the  latter,  and  his  followers, 
to  reject  all  terms  of  accommodation  which  would 
deprive  them  of  the  opportunity  of  ravaging  the 
frontiers  of  Russia  and  Poland.  Charles  XIL 
desired  to  be  revenged  on  his  rival,  the  czar  : 
but  the  general,  and  the  tirst  mihister  of  the  Ot- 
toman empire,  was  neither  influenced  by  the  pri- 
vate thirst  of  revenge,  which  animated  the  Chris- 
tian monarch,  nor  by  the  desire  of  booty,  which 
actuated  the  Tartar  chief. 

As  soon  as  the  suspension  of  arms  was  agreed 
to,  and  signed,  the  Russians  purchased  of  the 
Turks  the  provisions,  of  which  they  stood  in 
need.  The  articles  of  the  peace  were  not  ^signed 
at  that  time,  as  is  related  by  La  Motraye,  and 
which  Norberg  has  copied  from  him.  The  vizier, 
among  other  conditions,  demanded  that  the  czar 
should  promise  not  to  interfere  any  more  in  the 
Polish  affairs.  This  was  a  point  particularly  in- 
sisted upon  by  count  Poniatowsky  ;  but  it  was, 
in  fact,  the  interest  of  the  Ottoman  crown,  thai 
the  kingdom  of  Poland  should  continue  in  its 
then  defenceless  and  divided  state  j  accoidingly 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  213 

this  demand  was  reduced  to  tliat  of  the  Russian 
troops  evacuating  the  frontiers  of  Poland.  The 
khan  of  Tartary,  on  his  side,  demanded  a  tribute 
of  forty  thousand  sequins.  This  point,  after 
being  long  debated,  was  at  length  given  up. 

The  grand  vizier  insisted  a  long  time,  that 
prince  Cantemir  should  be  delivered  up  to  him, 
as  Patkul  had  been  to  the  king  of  Sweden.  Can- 
temir was  exactly  in  the  same  situation  as  Ma- 
zeppa  had  been.  ihe  czar  caused  that  hetman 
to  be  arraigned  and  tried  for  his  defection,  and 
afterwards  to  be  executed  in  effigy.  The  Turks 
were  not  acquainted  with  the  nature  of  such  pro- 
ceeding ;  they  knew  nothing  of  trials  for  contu- 
macy, nor  of  public  condemnations.  The  affixing 
a  sentence  on  any  person,  and  executing  him  in 
effigy,  were  the  more  unusual  amongst  them,  as 
their  law  forbids  the  representation  of  any  human 
ikeness  whatever.  The  vizier  in  vain  insisted 
on  Cantemir's  being  delivered  up  ;  Peter  pe- 
remptorily refused  to  comply,  and  wrote  the  fol- 
lowing letter  with  his  own  hand,  to  his  vice-chan- 
cellor Shaffiroff. 

'  I  can  resign  to  the  Turks  all  the  country,  as 
far  as  Carlzka,  because  1  have  hopes  of  being  able 
to  recover  it  again  ;  but  1  will,  by  no  means,  vio- 
late my  faith,  which,  once  forfeited,  can  never  be 
retrieved.  I  have  nothing  I  can  properly  call 
my  own,  but  my  honour,  if  1  give  up  that,  I 
cease  to  be  longer  a  king.' 

At  length  the  treaty  was  concluded,  and  signed, 
at  a  village  called  Falksen,  on  the  river  Pruth. 
Among  other  things,  it  was  stipulated,  that  .-Vzoph, 
and  the  territories  belongi:ig  thereto,  should  be 
restored,  together  witli  all  the  ammunition  and 
artillery  that  were  in  the  place,  before  the  czar 
made  himself  master  thereof,  in  1596.  That  the 
harbour  of  Taganroc,  in  the  Zabach  Sea,  should 


814  HISTORY  OF 

be  demolished,  as  also  that  of  Samara,  on  the 
river  of  the  same  name  ;  and  several  other  for- 
tresses. There  was  likewise  another  article 
added,  respecting  the  king  of  Sweden,  wl)ich  ar- 
ticle alone,  sufficiently  shews  the  little  regard  the 
vizier  had  for  that  prince  ;  for  it  was  therein 
stipulated,  that  the  czar  should  not  molest  Charles, 
in  his  return  to  his  dominions,  and  that  after- 
wards the  czar  and  he  might  make  peace  with 
the  other,  if  they  were  so  inclined. 

It  is  pretty  evident  by  the  wording  of  this  ex- 
traordinary article,  that  Baltagi  .Mahomet  had 
not  forgot  the  haughty  manner  in  which  Charles 
XII.  had  behaved  to  him  a  short  time  before,  and 
it  is  not  unlikely  that  this  very  behaviour  of  the 
king  of  Sweden  might  have  been  one  inducement 
with  Mahomet  to  comply  so  readily  with  his  ri- 
val's proposals  for  peace.  Charles's  glory  de- 
pended wholly  on  the  ruin  of  the  czar  :  but  we 
are  seldom  inclinable  to  exalt  those  who  express 
a  contempt  for  us  :  however,  this  prince,  who 
refused  the  vizier  a  visit  in  his  camp,  on  his  in- 
vitation, when  it  was  certainly  his  interest  to  have 
been  upon  good  terms  with  him, now  came  thither 
in  haste  and  unasked,  when  the  work  which  put 
an  end  to  all  his  hopes  was  on  the  point  of  being 
concluded.  The  vizier  did  not  go  to  meet 
him  in  person,  but  contented  himself  with  send- 
ing two  of  his  bashas  ,  nor  would  he  stir  out  of 
his  tent,  till  Charles  was  within  a  few  paces  of 
him. 

This  interview  passed,  as  every  one  knows, 
in  mutual  reproaches.  Several  historians  have 
thouglit,  that  the  answer  which  the  vizier  made  to 
the  king  of  Sweden,  when  that  prince  reproached 
him  with  not  making  the  czar  prisoner,  when  he 
might  h.ave  done  it  so  easily,  was  the  reply  of  a 
weak  man.     *  If  I  had  taken  him  prisoner,'  said 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  215 

Mahomet,  '  who  would  there  be  to  govern  hi» 
domiuions  V 

It  is  very  easy,  however,  to  comprehend,  that 
this  was  the  answer  of  a  mau  who  was  piqued 
with  resentment,  and  these  words  which  he  added 
— '  For  it  is  not  proper  that  every  crowned  head 
should  quit  his  dominions' — sufficiently  shewed 
that  he  intended  to  mortify  the  refugee  of  Bender. 

Charles  gained  nothing  by  his  journey,  but  the 
pleasure  of  tearing  the  vizier's  robe  with  his  spurs; 
while  that  officer,  who  was  in  a  condition  to  make 
him  repent  this  splenetic  insult,  seemed  not  to 
notice  it,  in  which  he  was  certainly  greatly  su- 
perior to  Charles.  If  any  thing  could  have  mad'e 
that  monarch  sensible,  in  the  midst  of  his  life, 
how  easily  fortune  can  put  greatness  to  tlie  blush, 
it  would  have  been  the  reflection,  that  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Pultowa,  a  pastry-cook's  boy  had  obliged 
his  whole  army  to  surrender  at  discretion  ;  and 
iu  this  of  Pruth  a  wood-cutter  was  the  arbiter  of 
his  fate,  and  that  of  his  rival  the  czar  :  for  the 
vizier,  Baltagi  Mahomet,  had  been  a  cutter  of 
wood  in  tiie  grand  seignior's  seraglio,  as  his  name 
implied  ;  and,  far  from  being  ashamed  of  that 
title,  he  gloried  in  it :  so  much  do  the  manners 
of  the  eastern  people  differ  from  ours. 

When  the  news  of  this  treaty  reached  Constan- 
tinople, the  grand  seignior  was  so  well  pleased, 
that  he  ordered  public  rejoicings  to  be  made  for 
a  whole  week,  and  Mahomet,  the  kiaia,  or  lieu- 
tenant general,  who  brought  the  tidiniis  to  the 
divan,  was  instantly  raised  to  the  dignity  of  bou- 
iouk  imraour,  or  master  of  the  horse  :  a  certain 
proof  that  the  sultan  did  not  think  himself  ill 
perved  by  his  vizier. 

Norberg  seems  to  have  known  very  little  of  the 
Turkish  government,  when  he  says,  that  '  the 
grand  ueignior  was  obliged  to  keep  fair  with 


216  HISTORY  OF 

Baltagi  ISIahomet,  that  vizier  having  rendered 
himself  formidable.'  The  janissaries  indeed  have 
often  rendered  themselves  formidable  to  their 
sultans  ;  but  there  is  not  one  example  of  a  vizier, 
who  has  not  been  easily  sacrificed  to  the  will  or 
orders  of  his  sovereign,  and  Mahomet  was  in  no 
condition  to  support  himself  by  his  own  power. 
Besides,  Norberg  manifestly  contradicts  himself, 
by  affirming  in  the  same  page,  that  the  janissaries 
were  irritated  against  INIahomet,  and  that  the 
sultan  stood  in  dread  of  his  power. 

The  king  of  Sweden  was  now  reduced  to  the 
necessity  of  forming  cabals  in  the  Ottoman  court ; 
and  a  monarch,  who  had  so  lately  made  kings  by 
his  own  power,  was  now  seen  waiting  for  audi- 
ence, and  offering  memorials  and  petitions  which 
were  refused. 

Charles  ran  through  all  the  ambages  of  intrigue, 
like  a  subject  who  endeavours  to  make  a  minister 
suspected  by  his  master.  In  this  manner  he 
acted  against  Mahomet,  and  against  those  who 
succeeded  him.  At  one  time  he  addressed  him- 
self to  the  sultana  Valide  by  means  of  a  Jewess, 
who  had  admission  into  the  seraglio  ;  at  another, 
he  employed  one  of  the  eunuchs  for  the  same 
purpose.  At  length  he  had  recourse  to  a  man 
who  was  to  mingle  among  the  grand  seignior's 
guards,  and,  by  counterfeiting  a  person  out  of  his 
senses,  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  sultan,  and 
by  that  means  deliver  into  his  own  hand  a  me- 
morial from  Charles.  From  all  these  various 
schemes,  the  king  of  Sweden  drew  only  the 
mortification  of  seeing  himself  deprived  of  his 
thaim  ;  that  is  to  say,  of  the  daily  pension  which 
the  Porte  of  its  generosity  had  assigned  him  for 
his  subsistence,  and  which  amounted  to  about  one 
tfaoosaud  five  hundred  French  livres.*  The  grand 
•  About  seventy  pounds  sterling. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  217 

viiier,  instead  of  remitting  this  allowance  to  him 
a« usual,  sent  him  an  order,  in  the  form  of  a  friendiy 
advice,  to  quit  the  grand  seignior's  dominions. 

Charles,  however,  was  absolutely  determined 
not  to  depart,  still  flattering  himself  with  the  vain 
hope,  that  he  should  once  more  re-enter  Poland 
and  Russia  with  a  powerful  army  of  Turks.  Every 
one  knows  what  was  the  issue  of  his  inflexible 
boldness  in  the  year  1714,  and  how  he  engaged 
an  army  of  janissaries,  Spahis,  and  Tartars,  with 
only  himself,  his  secretaries,  his  valet  de  chambre, 
cook,  and  stable  men  ;  ihat  he  was  taken  prisoner 
in  that  country,  where  he  had  been  treated  with 
the  greatest  hospitality  ;  and  that  he  at  length  got 
back  to  his  own  kingdom  in  the  disguise  of  a 
courier,  after  having  lived  five  years  in  1  urkey  : 
from  all  whirh  it  remains  to  be  acknow  edged, 
that  if  there  was  reason  in  the  conduct  of  thia 
extraordinary  prince,  it  was  a  reason  of  a  yery 
different  nature  to  that  of  other  men. 


THB 


HISTORY 


PETER  THE   GREAT, 


EMPEROR  OF  RUSSIA. 


fROM  THE  FRENCH  OF  VOLTAIRI. 

BY   SMOLLETT. 


VOL.  II 

NEW    YORK: 
LEAVITT    &    ALLEN 

379    BROADWAY. 

1857. 


THE 

HISTORV 

OF 

PETER    THE    GREAT. 


CHAP.  XXL 

Conclusion  of  the  Affairs  of  Pruth. 

TT  is  necessary  in  this  place  to  repeat  an 
event  already  related  in  the  History  of 
Charles  XH.  It  happened  during  the  suspen 
sion  of  arms  which  preceded  the  treaty  of 
Pruth,  that  two  Tartarian  soldiers  surprised 
and  took  prisoners  two  Italian  officers  belong- 
ing to  the  czar's  army,  and  sold  them  to  an 
officer  of  the  Turkish  janissaries.  The  vizier 
being  informed  of  this  breach  of  public  faith, 
punished  the  two  Tartars  with  death.  How  are 
we  to  reconcile  this  severe  delicacy  with  the 
violation  of  the  law  of  nations  in  the  person  of 
Tolstoy,  the  czar's  ambassador,  whom  this  very 


218  HISTORY  OF 

vizier  caused  to  be  arrested  iu  the  streets  of  Con- 
stantinople, and  afterwards  imprisoned  in  the 
CJistle  of  the  Seven  Towers  1  There  is  always 
some  reason  for  the  contradictions  we  find  in  the 
actions  of  mankind.  Baltagi  Mahomet  was  in- 
censed against  the  khan  of  Tartary,  for  havin>j 
opposed  the  peace  he  had  lately  made,  and  was 
resolved  to  shew  that  chieftain  that  he  was  hi* 
master. 

The  treaty  was  no  sooner  concluded,  than  the 
czar  quitted  the  borders  of  the  Pruth,  and  returned 
towards  his  o-wn  dominions,  followed  by  a  body 
of  eight  thousand  Turks,  whom  the  vizier  had  sent 
as  an  army  of  observation  to  watch  the  motions 
of  the  Russian  army  during  its  march,  and  also 
to  serve  as  an  escort  or  safeguard  to  them  against 
the  wandering  Tartars  which  infested  those  parts. 

Peter  instantly  set  about  accomplishing  the 
treaty,  by  demolishing  the  fortresses  of  Samara 
and  Kamienska  ;  but  the  restoring  of  Azoph,  and 
the  demolition  of  the  port  of  Taganroc,  met  with 
some  difficulties  in  the  execution.  According  to 
the  terms  of  the  treaty  it  was  necessary  to  dis- 
tinguish the  artillery  and  ammunition  which  be- 
longed to  the  Turks  in  Azoph  before  that  place 
was  taken  by  the  czar,  from  those  which  had 
been  sent  thither  after  it  fell  into  his  hands.  The 
governor  of  the  place  spun  out  this  affair  to  a 
tedious  length,  at  which  the  Porte  was  greatly 
incensed,  and  not  without  reason  :  the  sultan  was 
impatient  to  receive  the  keys  of  Azoph.  The 
vizier  promised  they  should  be  sent  from  time  to 
time,  but  the  governor  always  found  means  to 
delay  the  delivery  of  them.  Baltagi  Mahomet 
lost  the  good  graces  of  his  master,  and  with  them 
his  place.  The  khan  of  Tartary  and  his  other 
enemies  made  such  good  use  of  their  interest  with 
the  sultan,  that   the   grand  vizier  was  deposed, 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  219 

•everal  bashaswere  disgraced  at  the  same  time  ; 
but  the  grand  seignior,  well  convinced  of  thia 
minister's  fidelity,  did  not  deprive  him  either  of 
his  life  or  estate,  but  only  sent  him  to  IMytilene 
to  take  on  him  the  command  of  that  island.  This 
simple  removal  from  the  helm  of  afiFairs  (Nov, 
1711,),  and  the  continuing  to  him  his  fortunes, 
and  above  all  the  giving  him  the  command  in 
Mytilene,  sufficiently  contradicts  all  that  Norberg 
has  advanced,  to  induce  us  to  believe  that  this 
vizier  had  been  corrupted  with  the  czar's  money. 
Norberg  asserts  furthermore,  that  the  Bostangi 
basha,  who  came  to  divest  him  of  his  office,  and 
to  acquaint  him  of  the  grand  seignior's  sentence, 
declared  him  at  the  same  time,  '  a  traitor,  one 
who  had  disobeyed  the  orders  of  his  sovereign 
lord,  had  sold  himself  to  the  enemy  for  money, 
and  was  foand  guilty  of  not  having  taken  proper 
care  of  the  interests  of  the  king  of  Sweden.'  In 
the  first  place,  this  kind  of  declarations  are  not 
at  all  in  use  in  Turkey  :  the  orders  of  the  grand 
seignior  always  being  issued  privately,  and  exe- 
cuted with  secresy.  Secondly,  if  the  vizier  had 
been  declared  a  traitor,  a  rebel,  and  a  corrupted 
person,  crimes  of  this  nature  would  have  been 
instantly  punished  with  death  in  a  country  where 
they  are  never  forgiven.  Lastly,  if  he  was  punish- 
able for  not  having  sufficiently  attended  to  the 
interests  of  the  king  of  Sweden,  it  is  evident  that 
this  prince  must  have  had  such  a  degree  of  in- 
fluence at  the  Ottoman  Porte,  as  to  have  made 
the  other  ministers  to  tremble,  who  would  con- 
sequently have  endeavoured  to  gain  his  good 
graces  ;  whereas,  on  the  contrary,  the  hasha 
Jussuf,  aga  of  the  janissaries,  who  succeeded 
Mahomet  Baltagi  as  grand  vizier,  had  the  same 
sentiments  as  his  predecessor,  in  relation  to 
Charles's  conduct,  and  was  so  far  from  doing  him 


220  HISTORY  OF 

any  service  that  be  thought  of  nothing  but  bow 
to  get  rid  of  so  dangerous  a  guest ;  and  when 
count  Poniatowsky,  the  companion  and  confidant 
of  that  monarcii,  went  to  compliment  the  vizief 
on  bis  new  dignity,  the  latter  spoke  to  him  thus  . 
*  Pagan,  I  forewarn  thee,  that  if  ever  1  find  thee 
batching  any  intrigues,  I  will,  upon  the  first  notice, 
cause  thee  to  be  thrown  into  the  sea  with  a  stone 
about  thy  neck.' 

This  compliment  count  Poniatowsky  himself 
relates  in  the  memoirs  which  he  drew  up  at  my 
request,  and  is  a  sufiicieut  proof  of  the  little  in- 
fluence his  master  had  in  the  Turkish  court.  All 
that  Norberg  has  related  touching  the  aflfairs  of 
that  empire,  appear  to  come  fiom  a  prejudiced 
person,  and  one  who  was  very  ill  informed  of  the 
circumstances  he  pretends  to  write  about.  And 
we  may  count  among  the  errors  of  a  party-spirit 
and  political  falsehood^,  every  thing  which  this 
writer  advances  unsupported  bv  proofs,  concern- 
ing the  pretended  corruption  of  a  grand  vizier, 
that  is,  of  a  person  who  had  the  disposal  of  up 
wards  of  sixty  millions  per  annum,  without  being 
subject  to  the  least  account.*  I  have  now  be- 
fore me  the  letter  which  count  Poniatowsky  wrote 
to  King  Stanislaus  immediately  after  the  signing 
the  treaty  of  Pruth,  in  which  he  upbraids  Bal- 
tagi  IMahomet  with  the  slight  he  shewed  to  the 
king  of  Sweden,  bis  dislike  to  the  war,  and  the 
unsteadiness  of  bis  temper  ;  but  never  once  hints 
the  least  charge  of  corruption  :  for  he  knew  too 
well  what  the  place  of  grand  vizier  was,  to  enter- 
tam  an  idea,  that  the  czar  was  capable  of  setting 
a  pnce  upon  the  infidelity  of  the  second  person 
in  the  Ottoman  empire. 

Schaffirow   and  Sheremeto,  who  remained  at 

*   French  money,   which  is  always  counted  by  livrea 
and  makes  about  three  millions  sterling. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  221 

CouBtantinopIe  as  hostages  on  the  part  of  the  era? 
for  his  jie-formance  of  the  treaty,  were  not  used 
in  the  nianner  they  would  have  been  if  known  to 
have  purchased  this  peace,  and  to  have  joined 
with  the  vizier  in  deceiving  his  master.  They 
were  left  to  go  at  liberty  about  the  city,  escorted 
by  two  companies  of  janissaries. 

The  czar's  ambassador  Tolstoy  having  been  re- 
leased from  his  confinement  in  the  Seven  lowers, 
immediately  upon  the  signing  of  the  treaty  of 
Pruth,  the  Dutch  and  English  ministers  inter- 
posed with  the  new  vizier  to  see  the  several  arti- 
cles of  that  treaty  put  into  execution. 

Azoph  was  at  length  restored  to  the  Turks,  and 
the  fortresses  mentioned  in  the  treaty  were  de- 
molished according  to  stipulation.  And  now  the 
Ottoman  Porte,  though  very  little  inclinable  to 
interfere  in  the  differences  between  Christian 
princes,  could  not  without  vanity  behold  himself 
made  arbitrator  between  Russia,  Poland,  and  the 
king  of  Sweden  ;and  insisted  that  the  czar  should 
withdraw  his  troops  out  of  Poland,  and  deliver 
the  Turkish  empire  from  so  dangerous  a  neigh- 
bour; and,  desirous  that  the  Christian  princes 
might  continually  be  at  war  with  each  other, 
wished  for  nothing  so  much  as  to  send  Charles 
home  to  his  own  dominions,  but  all  this  while 
had  not  the  least  intention  of  fumisliing  him  with 
an  army.  1  he  Tartars  were  still  for  war,  as  an 
artificer  is  willing  to  seize  every  opportunity  to 
exercise  his  calling.  The  janissaries  likewise 
wished  to  be  called  into  the  field,  but  more  out 
of  hatred  against  the  Christians,  their  naturally 
restless  disposition,  and  from  a  fondness  for  ra- 
pine and  licentiousness,  than  from  any  other 
motives.  Nevertheless,  the  English  and  Dutch 
ministers  managed  their  negotiations  so  well, 
tha^.  they  prevailed  over  the  opposite  party  :  the 


99S  HISTORY  OF 

treaty  of  Pruth  was  confirmed,  but  with  the  atl- 
dition  of  a  new  article,  by  which  it  was  stipulated 
that  the  czar  should  withdraw  his  forces  from 
Poland  within  three  months,  and  that  tlie  sultan 
should  immediately  send  Charles  XII.  out  of  his 
dominions. 

We  may  judge  from  this  new  treaty  whethei 
the  king  of  Sweden  hu.d  that  interest  at  the  Porto 
■which  some  writers  would  have  us  to  believe. 
He  was  evidently  sacrificed  on  this  occasion  bj 
the  new  vizier,  basha  Jussuf,  as  he  had  been  be- 
fore by  Baltagi  Mahomet.  The  historians  of  his 
party  could  find  no  other  expedient  to  colour  over 
this  fresh  affront,  but  that  of  accusing  Jussuf  of 
having  been  bribed  like  his  predecessor.  Such 
repeated  imputations,  unsupported  by  any  proofs, 
are  rather  the  clamours  of  an  impotent  cabal, 
than  the  testimonies  of  history ;  but  faction, 
Twhen  driven  to  acknowledge  facts,  will  ever  be 
endeavouring  to  alter  circumstances  and  motives ; 
and,  unhappily,  it  is  thus  that  all  the  histories  of 
our  times  will  be  handed  down  to  posterity  so 
altered,  that  they  will  be  unable  to  distinguish 
truth  from  falsehoods. 


CHAP.  xxn. 


Marriage  of  the  czarowitz. — The  marriage  of  Pet«r  and 
Catherine  publicly  Bolemnized. — Catherine  Qndi  her 
brother. 

n^HIS  unsuccessful  campaign  of  Pruth  proved 
more  hurtful  to  the  czar  than  ever  the  battle 
of  Narva  was  ;  for  after  that  defeat  he  had  found 
means  not  only  to  retrieve  his  losses,  but  also  to 
wrest  Ingria  out  of  the  hands  of  Charles  XII. ; 
but  by  the  treaty  of  Falksten,  in  which  he  con* 
sented  to  give  up  to  the  sultan  his  forts  and  bar* 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  223 

boars  on  the  Palus  Maiotis  Le  for  ever  lost  his 
projected  superiority  in  the  Black  Sea.  He  had 
besides  an  infinite  deal  of  work  on  his  hands ; 
his  new  establishments  in  Russia  were  to  be  per- 
fected, he  had  to  prosecute  his  victories  over  the 
Swedes,  to  settle  king  Augustus  firmly  on  the 
Polish  throne,  and  to  manage  affairs  properly 
with  the  several  powers  with  whom  he  was  in 
alliance ;  but  the  fatigues  he  had  undergone 
having  impaired  his  health,  he  was  obliged  to  go 
to  Carlsbad*  to  drink  the  waters  of  that  place. 
While  he  was  there  he  gave  orders  for  his  troops 
to  enter  Pomerania,  who  blockaded  Stralsund, 
and  took  five  other  towns  in  the  neighbourhood. 

Pomerania  is  the  most  northern  province  of 
Germany,  bounded  on  the  east  bj  Prussia  and 
Poland,  on  the  west  by  Brandenburg,  on  the 
south  by  INIecklenburg,  and  on  the  north  by  the 
Baltic  Sea.  It  has  changed  masters  almost 
every  century  :  Gustavus  Adolphus  get  posses- 
sion of  it  in  his  famous  thirty  years  war,  and  it 
was  afterwards  solemnly  ceded  to  the  crown  of 
Sweden  by  the  treaty  of  Westphalia:  with  a  re- 
servation of  the  little  bishopric  of  Camin,  and  a 
few  other  small  towns  lying  in  Upper  Pomerania. 
The  whole  of  this  province  properly  belongs  to 
the  elector  of  Brandenburg,  in  virtue  of  a  family 
compact  made  with  the  dukes  of  Pomerania, 
whose  family  being  extinct  in  1637,  consequently 
by  the  laws  of  the  empire  the  house  of  Branden- 
burg had  an  undoubted  right  to  the  succession; 
bat  necessity,  the  first  of  all  laws,  occasioned 
this  family  compact  to  be  set  aside  by  the  treaty 
of  Osnaburg  ;  after  which,  almost  the  whole  of 
Pomerania  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  victorious  Swedes, 

The  czar's  intention  was  to  wrest  from  Sweden 

*  A  town  io  Bohemia  famoo«  for  iu  mineral  tprlog* 


M4  HISTORY  OF 

Jtll  the  provinces  that  crown  was  possessed  of 
in  Germany ;  and,  in  order  to  accomplish  hifl 
design,  be  found  it  necessary  to  enter  into  a 
confederacy  with  the  electors  of  Hanover  and 
Brandenbarg,  and  the  king  of  Denmark.  Peter 
drew  up  the  several  articles  of  the  treaty  he 
projected  with  these  powers,  and  also  a  com- 
plete plan  of  the  necessary  operations  for  ren- 
dering him  master  of  Pomerania. 

In  the  meanwhile  he  went  to  Torgau,  to  be 
present  at  the  nuptials  of  his  son  the  czarowitx 
Alexis  with  the  princess  of  Wolfenbuttel  (Oct. 
23,  1711.),  sister  to  the  consort  of  Charles  VI. 
emperor  of  Germany ;  nuptials  which,  in  the 
end,  proved  fatal  to  his  own  peace  of  mind,  and 
to  the  lives  of  the  unfortunate  pair. 

The  czarowitz  was  born  of  the  first  marriage 
of  Peter  the  Great  to  Eudocia  Lapoukin,  to  whom 
he  was  espoused  in  1689:  she  was  at  that  time 
shut  up  in  the  monastery  of  i^usdal;  their  son 
Alexis  Petrowitz,  who  was  born  the  1st  of 
March,  1690,  was  now  in  his  tweaty-second 
year:  this  prince  was  not  then  at  all  known  ia 
Europe  ;  a  minister,  whose  memoirs  of  the  court 
of  Russia  have  been  printed,  says  in  a  letter  he 
writes  to  his  master,  dated  August  2.j,  1711, 
that  '  this  prince  was  tall  and  well  made,  re- 
sembled his  father  greatly,  was  of  an  excellent 
disposition,  very  pious,  had  read  the  Bible  five 
times  over,  took  great  delight  in  the  ancient 
Green  historians,  appeared  to  have  a  very  quick 
apprehension  and  understauding,  was  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  mathematics,  the  art  of  war, 
navigation,  and  hydraulics  •,  that  he  understood 
the  German  language,  and  was  then  learning 
the  French,  but  that  his  father  would  never  suffer 
him  to  go  through  a  regular  course  of  study.' 

Thie   character  h  very  differen*    frcrm    tf.i' 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  225 

which  the  czar  himself  gives  of  his  son  some  time 
afterwards,  in  which  we  shall  see  with  how  mucli 
grief  he  reproaches  him  with  faults  directly  op- 
posite to  those  good  qualities,  for  which  this 
minister  seems  so  much  to  admire  him. 

We  must  leave  posterity,  therefore,  to  deter- 
mine between  the  testimony  of  a  stranger,  who 
may  have  formed  too  slight  a  judgment,  and  the 
declaration  of  a  parent,  who  thought  himself 
under  a  necessity  of  sacrificing  the  dictates  of 
nature  to  the  good  of  his  people.  If  the  minister 
was  no  better  acquainted  with  the  disposition  of 
Alexis  than  he  seems  to  have  been  with  his  out- 
ward form,  his  evidence  will  have  but  little 
weight;  for  ho  describes  this  prince  as  tall  and 
well  made,  whereas  the  memoirs  sent  me  from 
Petersburg  say,  that  he  was  neither  the  one  nor 
the  other. 

His  mother-in-law,  Catherine,  was  not  pre- 
sent at  his  nuptials  ;  for  though  she  was  already 
looked  upon  as  czarina,  yet  she  had  not  been 
publicly  acknowledged  as  such  :  and  moreover, 
as  she  had  only  the  title  of  highness  given  her 
at  the  czar's  court,  her  rank  was  not  sufficiently 
settled  to  admit  of  her  signing  the  contract,  or  to 
appear  at  the  ceremony  in  a  station  befitting  the 
consort  of  Peter  the  Great.  She  therefore  re 
mained  at  Thorn  in  Polish  Prussia.  Soon  after 
the  nuptials  were  celebrated,  the  czar  sent  the 
new-married  couple  away  to  VVolfenbuttel  (Jan. 
9,  171'2),  and  brought  back  the  czarina  to  Pe- 
tersburg with  that  dispatch  and  privacy  which 
he  observed  in  all  his  journies. 

Feb.  19,  1711'.]  Having  now  disposed  of  his 
son,  he  publicly  solemnized  his  own  nuptials 
with  Catherine,  which  had  been  declared  in  pri- 
vate before.  This  ceremony  was  performed  with 
as  much  magnificence  as  could  be  expected  in  a 
K  2 


2*6  HISTORY  OF 

city  but  yet  in  its  infancy,  and  from  a  revennc 
exhausted  by  the  late  destructive  war  against 
the  Turks,  and  that  which  he  was  still  engaged 
in  against  the  king  of  Sweden.  The  czar  gave 
orders  for,  and  assisted  himself  in,  all  the  prepa- 
rations for  the  ceremony,  according  to  the  usual 
custom  ;  and  Catherine  was  now  publicly  de- 
clared czarina,  in  reward  for  having  saved  ber 
husband  and  his  whole  army. 

The  acclamations  with  which  this  declaratioa 
was  received  at  Petersburg  were  sincere  :  the 
applauses  which  subjects  confer  on  the  actions 
of  a  despotic  sovereign  are  generally  suspected  ; 
but  on  this  occasion  they  were  confirmed  by  the 
united  voice  of  all  the  thinking  part  of  Europe, 
who  beheld  with  pleasure,  on  the  one  hand,  the 
heir  of  a  vast  monarchy  with  no  other  glory  than 
that  of  his  birth,  married  to  a  petty  princess ; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  a  powerful  conqueror, 
and  a  law-giver,  publicly  sharing  his  bed  and  his 
throne  with  a  stranger  and  a  captive,  who  had 
nothing  to  recommend  her  but  her  merit :  and 
this  approbation  became  more  general  as  the 
minds  of  men  grew  more  enlightened  by  that 
sound  philosophy,  which  has  made  so  great  a 
progress  in  our  understandings  within  these  last 
forty  years  :  a  philosophy,  equally  sublime  and 
discerning,  which  teaches  us  to  pay  only  tlie 
exterior  respect  to  greatness  and  authority,  whil»- 
we  reserve  our  esteem  and  veneration  for  shining 
talents  and  meritorious  services. 

And  here  I  think  myself  under  an  obligation 
to  relate  what  I  have  met  touching  this  marriage 
in  the  dispatches  of  count  Bassewitz.aulic  coun- 
sellor at  Vienna,  and  long  time  minister  from 
Holstein  at  tl.e  court  of  Russia ;  a  person  of  great 
merit,  and  whose  memory  is  still  held  in  the 
highest  esteem   in    Germany.     In  some  of  hi? 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  227 

letters  he  speaks  thus :  '  The  czarina  had  not 
only  been  the  main  instrument  of  procuring  the 
czar  that  reputation  which  he  enjoyed,  but  was 
likewise  essentially  necessary  in  the  preservation 
of  his  life.  This  prince  was  unhappily  subject  to 
violent  convulsion  fits,  which  were  thought  to 
be  the  effects  of  poison  which  had  been  given 
him  while  he  was  young.  Catherine  alone  had 
found  the  secret  of  alleviating  his  sufi'crings  by 
an  unwearied  assiduity  and  atteiaion  lo  what- 
ever she  thought  would  please  liira,  and  made  it 
the  whole  study  of  her  life  to  preserve  a  health 
30  valuable  to  the  kingdom  and  to  herself,  inso- 
much, that  the  c^ar  finding  he  could  not  live 
without  her,  made  her  the  companion  of  his 
throne  and  bed.'  I  here  only  repeat  the  express 
words  of  the  writer  himself. 

Fortune,  which  has  furnished  us  with  many 
extraordinary  scenes  in  this  part  of  the  world, 
and  who  had  raised  Catherine  from  the  lowest 
abyss  of  misery  and  distress  to  the  pinnacle  of 
humaa  grandeur,  wrought  another  extraordinary 
incident  in  her  favour  some  few  years  after  hei 
marriage  with  the  czar,  and  which  I  find  thus 
related  in  a  curious  manuscript  of  a  person  who 
was  ut  that  time  in  the  czar's  service,  and  who 
speaks  of  it  as  a  thing  to  which  he  was  eye- 
witness. 

An  envoy  from  king  Augustus  to  the  court  of 
Peter  the  Great,  being  on  his  return  home 
through  Courland,  and  having  put  up  at  an  inn 
by  the  way,  heard  the  voice  of  a  person  who 
seemed  in  great  distress,  and  whom  the  people 
of  the  house  were  treating  in  that  insulting 
manner  which  is  but  too  common  on  such  occa- 
sions :  the  stranger,  with  a  tone  of  resentment^ 
made  answer,  that  they  would  not  dare  to  use 
Lim  thus,  if  he  could  but  odco  get  to  the  speech 


SS8  HISTORY  OF 

of  the  czar,  at  whose  court  he  had  perhaps  more 
powerful  protectors  than  they  imagined. 

The  envoy,  upon  hearing  this,  had  a  curiosity 
to  a&k  tlie  man  some  questions,  and,  from  cer- 
tain answers  he  let  fail,  and  a  close  examination 
of  his  face,  he  thought  he  found  in  him  some  re- 
semblance of  the  empress  Catherine  ;  and,  wheu 
he  came  to  Dresden,  he  could  not  forbear  writing 
to  one  of  his  friends  at  Petersburg  concerning  it. 
This  letter,  by  accident,  came  to  the  czar's 
hands,  who  immediately  sent  an  order  to  prince 
Repnin,  then  governor  of  Riga,  to  endeavour  to 
find  out  the  person  mentioned  in  the  letter. 
Prince  Repnin  immediately  dispatched  a  mes- 
senger to  Mittau,  in  Courland,  who,  on  inquiry, 
found  out  the  man,  and  learned  that  his  name 
was  Charles  Scavronsky;  that  he  was  the  son  of 
a  Lithuanian  gentleman,  who  had  been  killed  in 
the  wars  of  Poland,  and  had  left  two  children 
then  in  the  cradlo,  a  boy  and  a  girl,  who  had 
neither  of  them  received  any  other  education  than 
that  which  .simple  nature  gives  to  those  who  are 
abandoned  by  the  world.  Scavronsky,  who  had 
been  parted  from  his  sister  while  they  were  both 
infants,  knew  nothing  further  of  her  than  that 
she  had  been  taken  prisoner  in  Marienburg, 
in  the  year  1704,  and  supposed  her  to  be  still  in 
the  household  of  prince  Menzikoff,  where  he  ima- 
gined she  might  have  made  some  little  fortune. 

Prince  Repnin,  agreeable  to  the  particular 
orders  he  had  received  from  the  czar,  caused 
Scavronsky  to  be  seized,  and  conducted  to  Riga, 
under  pretence  of  some  crime  laid  to  his  charge  ; 
and,  to  give  a  better  colour  to  the  matter,  at  his 
arrival  there,  a  sh.ira  information  was  drawn  up 
against  him,  and  he  was  soon  after  sent  from 
thence  to  Petersburg,  under  a  strong  guard,  with 
orders  to  treat  him  well  upon  the  road. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  229 

When  he  cama  to  that  capital,  he  was  carried 
•  to  the  house  of  an  officer  of  the  emperor's  palace, 
named  Shepleff,  who,  having  been  previously 
instructed  in  the  part  he  was  to  play,  drew  se- 
veral circumstances  from  the  young  man  in  re- 
lation to  his  condition ;  and,  after  some  time, 
told  him,  that  although  the  information,  which 
had  been  sent  up  from  Riga  against  him,  was  of 
a  very  serious  nature,  yet  he  would  have  justice 
done  him  ;  but  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  pre- 
sent a  petition  to  bis  majesty  for  that  purpose  ; 
that  one  should  accordingly  be  drawn  up  in  his 
name,  and  that  he  (Shepleff)  would  find  means 
that  he  should  deliver  it  into  the  czar's  own 
hands. 

The  next  day  the  czarcame  to  dine  with  Shep- 
leff, at  his  own  house,  who  presented  Scavronsky 
to  him  ;  when  his  majesty,  after  asking  him 
abundance  of  questions  was  convinced,  by  the 
natural  answers  he  gave,  that  he  was  really  the 
czarina's  brother  ;  they  had  both  lived  in  Livonia, 
when  young,  and  the  czar  found  every  thing  that 
Scavronsky  said  to  him,  in  relation  to  his  family 
affairs,  tally  exactly  with  what  his  wife  had  told 
him  concerning  her  brother,  and  the  misfortunes 
which  had  befallen  her  and  her  brother  in  the 
earlier  part  of  their  lives. 

The  czar,  now  satisfied  of  the  truth,  proposed 
the  next  day  to  the  empress  to  go  and  dine  with 
him  at  Shepleff's  ;  and,  when  dinner  was  over, 
he  gave  orders  that  the  man,  whom  he  had  ex- 
mained  the  day  before,  should  be  brought  in  again. 
Accordin^'Iy  he  was  introduced,  dressed  in  the 
pame  clothes  he  had  wore  while  on  his  journey 
to  Riga;  the  czar  not  being  willing  that  he 
should  ajtpear  in  any  other  garb  than  what  his 
unhappy  circumstances  had  accustomed  him  to. 

He  interrogated  him  again,  in  the  presence  of 


U30  HISTORY  OF 

his  wife  ;  and  the  MS.  adds,  tbat,  at  the  end, 
he  turned  about  to  the  empress,  and  said  these 
very  words  : — '  This  man  is  your  brother  ;  come 
hither,  Charles,  and  kiss  the  hand  of  the  empress, 
and  embrace  your  sister.* 

The  author  of  this  narrative  adds  further,  that 
the  empress  fainted  away  with  surprise  ;  and 
that,  when  she  came  to  herself  again,  the  czar 
said,  '  There  is  nothing  in  this  but  what  is  very 
natural.  This  gentlemen  is  my  brother  in-law ; 
if  he  has  merit,  we  will  make  something  of  him  ; 
if  he  has  not,  we  must  leave  him  as  he  is.' 

I  am  of  opinion,  that  this  speech  shews  as 
much  greatness  as  simplicity,  and  a  greatness  not 
very  common.  My  author  says,  that  Scavronsky 
remained  a  considerable  time  at  Sheplefl~s  house  ; 
that  the  czar  assigned  him  a  handsome  pension, 
but  that  he  led  a  very  retired  life.  He  carries  his 
relation  of  this  adventure  no  farther,  as  he  made 
use  of  it  only  to  disclose  the  secret  of  Catherine's 
brother  :  but  we  know,  from  other  authorities, 
that  this  gentleman  was  afterwards  created  a 
count ;  that  he  married  a  young  lady  of  quality, 
by  whom  he  had  two  daughters,  who  were  mar- 
ried to  two  of  the  principal  noblemen  in  Russia. 
I  leave  to  those,  who  may  be  better  informed  of 
the  particulars,  to  distinguish  what  is  fact  in  this 
relation,  from  what  may  have  been  added  ;  and 
shall  only  say,  that  the  author  does  not  seem  to 
have  told  this  story  out  of  a  fondness  for  enter- 
taining his  readers  with  the  marvellous,  since  his 
papers  were  not  intended  to  be  published.  He 
is  writing  freely  to  a  friend,  abouta  thing  of  which 
he  says  he  was  an  eye-witness.  He  may  have 
been  mistaken  in  some  circumstances,  but  the 
fact  itself  has  all  the  appearance  of  truth  ;  for 
if  this  gentleman  had  kr-iown  that  his  sister  was 
raised  to  so  great  dignity  and  power,  he  would 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  231 

not  certuinly  have  remained  so  many  years  with- 
out  having  made  himself  known  to  her.  And 
this  discovery,  however  extraordinary  it  may 
seem,  is  certainly  not  more  so  than  the  exalta- 
tion of  Catherine  herself;  and  both  the  one  and 
the  other  are  striking  proofs  of  the  force  of  des- 
tiny, and  may  teach  us  to  be  cautious  how  we 
treat  as  fabulous  several  events  of  antiquity, 
•which  perhaps  are  less  contradictory  to  the  com- 
mon order  of  things,  than  the  adventures  of  this 
empress. 

The  rejoicings  made  by  the  czar  Peter  for  his 
own  marriage,  and  that  of  his  son,  were  not  of 
the  nature  of  those  transient  amusements  which 
exhaust  the  public  treasure,  and  are  presently 
lost  in  oblivion.  He  completed  his  grand  foundry 
for  cannon,  and  finished  the  admiralty  buildings. 
The  highways  were  repaired,  several  ships  built, 
and  others  put  upon  the  stocks  ;  new  canals  were 
dug,  and  the  finishing  hand  put  to  the  grand 
warehouses,  and  other  public  buildings,  and  the 
trade  of  Petersburg  began  to  assume  a  flourishing 
face.  He  issued  an  ordinance  for  removing  the 
senate  from  Moscow  to  Petersburg,  which  was 
executed  in  the  month  of  April,  1712.  By  this 
step  he  made  liis  new  city  the  capital  of  the  em- 
pire, and  early  he  employed  a  number  of  Swedish 
prisoners  in  beautifying  this  city,  whose  foun- 
dation had  been  laid  upon  their  defeat. 


CHAP.  XXIII. 


Taking  of  Stetin. — De8cent  upon  Fialaod.  - -Event 
of  the  year  1712.  i 

TDKTFR,  now  seeing  himself  happy  in  his  own 

family,  and  in  his  state,  and  successful  in  his 

war  against  Charles  XII.  and  in  the  several  ne- 


232  HISTORY  OF 

gotiations  which  he  had  entered  into  with  other 
powers,  who  were  resolved  to  assist  him  in  driv- 
ing  out  the  Swedes  from  the  continent,  and  coop- 
ing them  up  for  ever  within  the  narrow  isthmus 
of  Scandinavia,  began  to  turn  his  views  entirely 
towards  the  north-west  coasts  of  Kurope,  not 
laying  aside  all  thoughts  of  the  Palus  iMjeotis,  or 
Black  Sea.  The  keys  of  Azoph,  which  had  been 
so  long  withheld  from  the  basha,  who  was  to 
have  taken  possession  of  that  place  for  the  sultan, 
his  master,  were  now  given  up  ;  and,  notwith- 
standing all  the  endeavours  of  the  king  of 
Sweden,  the  intrigues  of  his  friends  at  the  Otto- 
man Porte,  and  even  some  menaces  of  a  new 
war  on  the  part  of  the  Turks,  both  that  nation 
and  the  Russian  empire  continued  at  peace. 

Charles  XII.  still  obstinate  in  his  resolution 
not  to  depart  from  Bender,  tamely  submitted  his 
hopes  and  fortunes  to  tke  caprice  of  a  grand 
vizier  ;  while  the  czar  was  threatening  all  his 
provinces,  arming  against  him  the  king  of  Den- 
mark, and  the  elector  of  Hanover,  and  had  al- 
most persuaded  th«  king  of  Prussia,  and  even 
the  Poles  and  Saxons,  to  declare  openly  for 
him. 

Charles,  ever  of  the  same  inflexible  disposi- 
tion, behaved  in  the  like  manner  towards  his 
enemies,  who  now  seemed  united  to  overwhelm 
him,  as  he  had  done  in  all  his  transactions  with 
the  Ottoman  Porte  ;  and,  from  his  lurking-place 
in  the  deserts  of  Bessarabia,  defied  the  czar,  the 
kings  of  Poland,  Denmark,  and  Prussia,  the 
elector  of  Hanover  (soon  afterwards  king  of 
England),  and  the  emperor  of  Germany,  whom 
he  had  so  greatly  offended,  when  he  was  travers- 
ing Silesia  with  his  victorious  troops,  and  who 
now  shewed  his  resentment,  by  abandoning  him 
to  bis  ill  fortune,  and  refused  to  take  under  hia 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  233 

protection  any  of  those  countries,  which  as  yeC. 
belonged  to  the  Swedes  in  Germany. 

1711:!.]  It  would  have  been  no  difficult  matter 
for  him  to  have  broken  the  league  which  wai 
forming  against  him,  would  he  have  consented  ti 
cede  Stetin,  in  Pomerania,  to  Frederick  (the  first!, 
king  of  Prussia,  and  elector  of  Brandenburg 
who  had  a  lawful  claim  thereto ;  but  Charles 
did  mt  then  look  upon  Prussia  as  a  power  ot 
any  consequence  :  and  indeed  neither  he,  nor 
any  other  person,  could  at  that  time  foresee,  that 
this  petty  kingdom,  and  the  electorate  of  Bran- 
denburg, either  of  which  were  little  better  than  de- 
serts, would  one  day  become  formidable.  Charles 
therefore  would  not  listen  to  any  proposal  of  ac- 
commodation, but  determined  rather  to  stake  all 
than  to  give  up  any  thing,  sent  orders  to  the  re- 
gency of  Stockholm,  to  make  all  possible  resist- 
ance, both  by  sea  and  laud  :  and  these  orders 
were  obeyed,  notwitlistanding  that  his  dominions 
were  almost  exhausted  of  men  and  money.  The 
senate  of  Stockholm  fitted  out  a  fleet  of  thirteen 
ships  of  the  line,  and  every  person  capable  of 
bearing  arms  came  voluntarily  to  offer  their  ser- 
vice :  in  a  word,  the  inflexible  courage  and  pride 
of  Charles  seemed  to  be  infused  into  all  his  sub- 
jects, who  were  almost  as  unfortunate  as  their 
master. 

It  can  hardly  be  supposed,  that  Charles's  con- 
duct was  formed  upon  any  regular  plan.  He  had 
still  a  powerful  party  in  Poland,  which  assisted 
by  the  Crim  i'artars,  might  indeed  have  desola- 
ted that  wretched  country,  but  could  not  have  re- 
placed Stanislaus  on  the  throne  ;  and  his  hope 
of  engaging  the  Ottoman  Porte  to  espouse  his 
cause,  or  convincing  the  divan  that  it  was  their 
interest  to  send  ten  or  twelve  thousand  men  to 
the  assis  .ance  of  his  friends,  under  pretence  that 


2S4'^  HISTORY  OF 

the  C7.ar  was  supporting  his  ally,  Augustus,  in 
Poland,  was  vain  and  chinaericah 

Sep.  171/2.]  Nevertheless,  he  continued  still 
at  Bender,  to  wait  the  issue  of  these  vain  pro- 
lects,  while  the  Russians,  Danes,  and  Saxons, 
were  overrunning  Pomerania.  Peter  took  his 
wife  with  hiin  on  this  expedition.  The  king  of 
Denmark  had  already  made  himself  master  of 
Stade,  a  sea-port  town  in  the  duchy  of  Bremen, 
and  the  united  forces  of  Russia,  Saxony,  and 
Denmark,  were  already  before  Stralsund. 

Oct.  17l'J.]  And  now  king  Stanislaus,  seeing 
the  deplorable  state  of  so  many  provinces,  the 
impossibility  of  his  recovering  the  crown  of  Po 
land,  and  the  universal  confusion  occasioned  by 
the  inflexibility  of  Charles,  called  a  meeting  ot 
the  Swedish  generals,  who  were  covering  Po- 
merania with  an  army  of  eleven  thousand  men, 
as  the  last  resource  they  had  left  in  those  pro- 
vinces. 

When  they  were  assembled,  he  proposed  to 
them  to  make  their  terms  with  king  Augustus, 
offering  himself  to  be  the  victim  of  this  recon- 
ciliation. On  this  occasion,  he  made  the  follow- 
ing sj)eech  to  them,  in  the  French  language,  which 
he  afterwards  left  in  writing,  and  which  was 
signed  by  nine  general  officers,  amongst  whom 
happened  to  be  one  Patkul,  cousin-german  to 
the  unfortunate  Patkul,  who  lost  his  life  on  the 
wheel,  by  the  order  of  Charles  XII. 

'  Having  been  hitherto  the  instrument  of  pro- 
curing glory  to  the  Swedish  arms,  I  cannot  think 
of  proving  the  cause  of  their  ruin.  I  therefore 
declare  myself  ready  to  sacrifice  the  crown,  and 
my  personal  interests,  to  the  preservation  of  the 
sacred  person  of  their  king,  as  I  can  see  no  other 
method  of  releasing  him  from  the  place  where  bo 
now  is.' 


PEIER  THE  GREAT.  235 

Having  made  this  declaration  (which  is  here 
given  in  his  own  words),  he  prepared  to  set  out 
for  Turkey,  in  hopes  of  being  able  to  soften  the 
inflexible  temper  of  his  benefactor,  by  the  sacri- 
fice he  had  made  for  him.  His  ill  fortune  would 
have  it,  that  he  arrived  in  Bessarabia  at  the  very 
time  that  Charles,  after  having  given  his  word 
to  the  sultan,  that  he  would  depart  from  Bender, 
and  having  received  the  necessary  remittances 
for  his  journey,  and  an  escort  for  his  person,  took 
the  raad  resolution  to  continue  there,  and  opposed 
a  whole  army  of  Turks  and  Tartars,  with  only 
his  own  domestics.  The  former,  though  they 
might  easily  have  killed  him,  contented  them- 
selves with  taking  him  prisoner.  At  this  very 
juncture,  Stanislaus  arriving,  was  seized  himself; 
80  that  two  Christian  kings  were  prisoners  atone 
time  in  Turkey. 

At  this  time,  when  all  Europe  was  in  commo- 
tion, and  that  France  had  just  terminated  a  war 
equally  fatal  against  one  part  thereof,  in  order  to 
settle  the  grandson  of  Lewis  XIV.  on  the  throne 
of  Spain,  England  gave  peace  to  France,  and  the 
victory  gained  by  Rlarshal  Villars  at  Denain  in 
Flanders,  saved  that  state  from  its  other  enemies. 
France  had  been,  for  upwards  of  a  century,  the 
ally  of  Sweden,  and  it  was  the  interest  of  the 
former,  that  its  ally  should  not  be  stript  of  his 
possessions  in  Germany.  Charles,  unhappily, 
was  at  such  a  distance  from  his  dominions,  that 
he  did  not  even  know  what  was  transacting  in 
France. 

The  regency  of  Stockholm,  by  a  desperate 
effort,  ventured  to  demand  a  sum  of  money  from 
the  French  court,  at  a  time  when  its  financea 
were  at  so  low  an  ebb,  that  Lewis  XIV.  had 
hardly  money  enough  to  pay  bis  household  ser- 
rants.  Count  Sparre  was  sent  with  a  commission 


2S6  HISTORY  OF 

to  negotiate  this  loan,  in  which  it  was  not  to  \ts 
supposed  he  would  succeed.  However,  on  his 
nrrival  at  Versailles,  he  represented  to  the  mar- 
quis de  Torci  the  inability  of  the  regency  to  pay 
the  little  army  which  Charles  had  still  remaining 
in  Pomerania,  and  which  was  ready  to  break  up 
and  dispute  of  itself  on  account  of  the  long  arrears 
due  to  the  znen  ;  and  that  France  was  on  the  point 
of  beholding  the  only  ally  she  had  left,  deprived 
of  those  provinces  which  were  so  necessary  to 
preserve  the  balance  of  power;  that  indeed  his 
master,  Charles,  had  not  been  altogether  so  at- 
tentive to  the  interests  of  France  in  the  course  of 
his  conquests  as  might  have  been  expected,  but 
that  the  magnanimity  of  Lewis  XIV.  was  at  least 
equal  to  the  misfortunes  of  his  royal  brother  and 
ally.  The  French  minister,  in  answer  to  this 
speech,  so  effectually  set  forth  the  incapacity  of 
his  cosirt  to  furnish  the  requested  succours,  that 
count  Sparre  despaired  of  success. 

It  so  happened,  however,  that  a  private  in- 
dividual did  that  which  Sparre  had  lost  all  hopes 
of  obtaining.  There  was  at  that  time  in  Paris,  a 
banker,  named  Samuel  Bernard,  who  had  ac- 
cumulated an  immense  fortune  by  making  remit- 
tances for,  the  government  to  foreign  countries, 
and  other  private  contracts.  This  man  was  in- 
toxicated with  a  species  of  pride  very  rarely  to 
be  met  with  from  people  of  his  profession.  He 
was  immoderately  fond  of  every  thing  that  made 
an  eclat,  and  knew  very  well,  that  one  time  or 
another  the  government  would  repay  with  interest 
those  who  hazarded  their  fortune  to  supply  its 
exigencies.  Count  Sparre  went  one  day  to  dine 
with  him,  and  took  care  to  flatter  his  foible  so 
well,  that  before  they  rose  from  table  the  banker 
put  six  hundred  thousand  livres  *  into  his  hand ; 
*  About  fifty  thousand  poouds  sterling. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  237 

and  then  immediately  waiting  on  the  marquis  Ae 
Torci,  he  said  to  him — '  1  have  lent  the  crown 
of  Sweden  six  hundred  thousand  livres  in  your 
name,  which  you  must  repay  me  when  you  are 
able.' 

Count  Steinbock,  who  at  that  time  commanded 
Charles's  army  in  Pomerania,  little  expected  so 
seasonable  a  supply  ;  and  seeing  his  troops  ready 
to  mutiny,  to  whom  he  had  nothing  to  give  but 
promises,  and  that  tlie  storm  was  gathering  fast 
upon  him,  and  being,  moreover,  apprehensive  of 
being  surrounded  by  the  three  different  armies 
of  Russia,  Denmark,  and  Saxony,  desired  a  ces- 
sation of  arms,  on  the  supposition  tliat  Stanislaus' 
abdication  would  soften  the  obstinacy  of  ('harles, 
and  that  the  only  way  left  him  to  save  the  forces 
under  his  command,  was  by  spinning  out  the 
time  in  negotiations.  He  therefore  dispatched  a 
courier  to  Bender,  to  represent  to  the  king  of 
Sweden  the  desperate  slate  of  his  finances  and 
affairs,  and  the  situation  of  the  army,  and  to  ac- 
quaint him  that  he  had  under  these  circumstances, 
found  himself  necessitated  to  apply  for  a  cessation 
of  arms,  which  he  should  think  himself  very  happy 
to  obtain.  The  courier  had  not  been  disp  itched 
above  three  days,  and  Stanislaus  was  not  yet 
set  out  on  his  journey  to  Bender,  when  Steinbock 
received  the  six  hundred  thousand  iivres  from 
the  French  banker  above-mentioned  ;  a  sum, 
which  was  at  that  time  an  immense  treasure  in  a 
country  so  desolated.  Thus  unexpecltdly  rein- 
forced with  money,  which  is  the  grand  panacea 
for  all  disorders  of  state,  Stf  inbock  found  means 
to  revive  the  drooping  spirits  of  his  soldiery  ;  he 
supplied  them  with  all  they  wanted,  raised  new 
recruits,  and  in  a  short  time  saw  himself  at  the 
head  of  twelve  thousand  men,  and  dropping  his 
former  intention   of  procuring;  a  suspension  ol 


238  HISTORY  OF 

arms,  he   sought  only  for  an  opportunity  of  en* 

gaging  the  enemy. 

This  'w  as  the  same  Steinbeck,  who  in  the  year 
1710,  after  the  defeat  of  Pultowa,  had  revenged 
the  Swedes  on  the  Danes  by  the  eruption  he 
made  into  Scania,  where  he  marched  against  and 
engaged  them  with  o.ly  a  few  militia,  whom  he 
had  hastily  gathered  together,  with  their  arms 
elung  round  them  with  ropes,  and  totally  defeated 
the  enemy.  He  was,  like  all  the  other  generals 
of  Charles  XII.  active  and  enterprising  ,  but  his 
valour  was  sullied  by  his  brutality  :  as  an  instance 
of  which,  it  will  be  suflBcient  to  relate,  that  hav- 
ing, after  an  engagement  with  the  Russians, 
given  orders  to  kill  all  the  prisoners,  and  per- 
ceiving a  Polish  officer  in  the  service  of  the  czar, 
who  had  caught  hold  on  king  Stanislaus' stirrup, 
then  on  horseback,  in  order  to  save  his  life,  he, 
Steinbock,  shot  him  dead  with  his  pistol  in  that 
prince's  arms,  as  has  been  already  mentioned 
in  the  life  of  Charles  XII.  and  king  Stanislaus 
has  declared  to  the  author  of  this  History,  that 
had  he  not  been  withheld  by  his  respect  and 
gratitude  to  the  king  of  Sweden,  he  should  im- 
mediately have  shot  Steinbock  dead  upon  the 
spot. 

Dec.  9,  1712.]  General  Steinbock  now  march- 
ed by  the  way  of  Wi&mar  to  meet  the  combined 
forces  of  the  Russians,  Danes,  and  Saxons,  and 
soon  found  himself  near  the  Danish  and  Saxon 
army,  which  was  advanced  before  that  of  the 
Russians  about  the  distance  of  three  leagues. 
'J  he  czar  sent  three  couriers,  one  after  another, 
to  the  k'ing  of  Denmark,  beseeching  him  to  wait 
his  coming  up,  and  thereby  avoid  the  danger 
which  threatened  him,  if  he  attempted  to  engage 
the  Swedes  with  an  equality  of  force ;  but  tie 
Danish   monarch,  not  willing  to  share  with  any 


PEfER  THE  GREAT.  ^39 

cue  the  honour  of  a  victory  which  he  thought 
■ore,  advanced  to  meet  the  Swedish  general, 
■whom  be  attacked  near  a  place  called  Gadebusch. 
This  day's  affair  gave  a  further  proof  of  the»na- 
tural  enmity  that  subsisted  between  the  Swedes 
and  Danes  The  officers  of  these  two  nations 
fought  with  most  unparalleled  inveteracy  against 
each  other,  and  neither  side  would  desist  till 
death  terminated  the  dispute. 

Steinbeck  gained  a  complete  victory  before  the 
Russian  army  could  come  up  to  the  assistance  of 
the  Danes,  and  the  next  day  received  an  order 
fnm  his  master,  Charles,  to  lay  aside  all  thoughts 
of  a  suspension  of  arms,  who,  at  the  same  time, 
upbraided  him  for  having  entertained  an  idea  so 
injurious  to  his  honour,  and  for  which  he  told  him 
ae  could  make  no  reparation,  but  by  conquering 
or  perishing.  Steinbockhad  happily  obviated  the 
orders  and  the  reproach  by  the  victory  he  had 
gained. 

But  this  victory  was  like  that  which  had  for- 
merly brought  such  a  transient  consolation  to  king 
Augustus,  when  in  the  torrent  of  his  misfortunes 
he  gained  the  battle  of  Calish  against  the  Swedes, 
who  were  conquerors  in  every  other  place,  and 
which  only  served  to  aggravate  his  situation,  as 
this  of  Gadebusch  only  procrastinated  the  ruin  of 
Steinbock  and  his  army. 

When  the  king  of  Sweden  received  the  news  of 
Steinbock's  success,  he  looked  upon  his  affairs  as 
retrievjed,  and  even  flattered  himself  with  hopes 
to  engage  the  Ottoman  Porte  to  declare  for  him, 
who  at  that  time  seemed  disposed  to  come  to  a 
new  rupture  with  the  czar  :  full  of  these  fond  ima- 
ginations, he  sent  orders  to  general  Steinbock  to 
fall  upon  Poland,  being  still  ready  to  believe, 
upon  the  least  shadow  of  success,  that  the  day  of 
Narva,  and  those  in  which  he  gave  laws  to  his 


840  HISTORY  OF 

enemies,  were  again  returned.  But  unhappily 
he  too  soon  found  these  flattering  hopes  ntterly 
blasted  by  the  affair  of  Bender,  and  his  own  cap- 
tivity amongst  the  Turks. 

The  whole  fruits  of  the  victory  at  Gadebusch 
were  coufined  to  the  surprising  in  the  night-time, 
and  reducing  to  ashes,  the  town  of  Altena,  inha- 
bited by  traders  and  manufacturers,  a  place 
wholly  defenceless,  and  which,  not  having  been 
in  arras,  ought,  by  all  the  laws  of  war  and  na- 
tions, to  have  been  spared  ;  however,  it  was 
utterly  destroyed,  several  of  the  inhabitants  pe- 
rished in  the  flames,  others  escaped  with  their 
lives,  but  naked,  and  a  number  of  old  men,  wo- 
men, and  children,  perished  with  the  cold  and 
fatigue  they  suffered,  at  the  gates  of  Hamburg. 
Such  has  too  often  been  the  fate  of  several  thou- 
sands of  men  for  the  quarrels  of  two  only  ;  and 
this  cruel  advantage  was  the  only  one  gained  by 
Steinbock  ;  for  the  Russians,  Danes,  and  Saxons 
pursued  him  so  closely,  that  he  was  obliged  to 
beg  for  an  asylum  in  Toningen,  a  fortress  in  the 
duchy  of  Holstein,  for  himself  and  army. 

This  duchy  was  at  that  time  subjected  to  the 
most  cruel  ravages  of  any  part  of  the  North, 
and  its  sovereign  was  the  most  miserable  of 
all  princes.  He  was  nephew  to  Charles  XII. 
and  it  was  on  his  father's  account,  who  had 
married  Charles's  sister,  that  that  monarch  car- 
ried his  arms  even  into  the  heart  of  Copenha- 
gen, before  the  battle  of  Narva,  and  for  whom 
he  likewise  made  the  treaty  of  Travendahl, 
by  which  the  dukes  of  Holstein  were  restored 
to  their  rights. 

This  country  was  in  part  the  cradle  of  the 
Cimbri,  and  of  the  old  Normans,  who  overrun 
the  province  of  Neustria,  in  France,  and  conquer- 
ed all  England,  Naples,  and  Sicily  ;  and  yet,  at 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  241 

this  present  time,  no  state  pretends  less  to  make 
conquests  than  this  part  of  the  ancient  Cimbrica 
Chersonesus,  which  consists  oniy  of  two  petty 
duchies  ;  namely,  that  of  Sleswic,  belonging  in 
common  to  the  king  of  Denmark  and  the  duke 
of  Hoistein,  and  that  of  Gottorp,  appertaining 
to  the  duke  alone.  Sleswic  is  a  sovereign  prin- 
cipality ;  Hoistein  is  a  branch  of  the  German 
empire,  called   the  Roman  empire. 

The  king  of  Denmark,  and  the  duke  of  Hol- 
stein-Gottorp,  were  of  the  same  family  ;  but  the 
duke,  nephew  to  Charles  XII.  and  presumptive 
heir  to  his  crown,  was  the  natural  enemy  of  the 
king  of  Denmark,  who  had  endeavoured  to  crush 
him  in  the  very  cradle.  One  of  his  father's  bro- 
thers, who  was  bishop  of  Lubec,  and  administra- 
tor of  the  dominions  of  his  unfortunate  ward,  now 
beheld  himself  in  the  midst  of  the  Swedish  army, 
whom  he  durst  not  succour,  and  those  of  Russia, 
Denmark,  and  Saxony,  that  threatened  his  coun- 
try with  daily  destruction.  Nevertheless,  he 
thought  himself  obliged  to  try  to  save  Charles's 
army,  if  he  could  doit  without  irritating  the  king 
of  Denmark,  who  had  made  himself  master  of 
his  country,  which  he  exhausted,  by  raising  con- 
tinual contributions. 

This  bishop  and  administrator  was  enlircly 
governed  by  the  famous  baron  Gortz,  the  most 
artful  and  enterprising  man  of  his  age,  endowed 
with  a  genius  amazingly  penetrating,  and  fruit- 
ful in  every  resource  :  with  talents  ocjual  to  the 
boldest  and  most  arduous  attempts  ;  he  was  as 
insinuating  in  his  negotiations  as  he  was  liardy 
m  his  projects ;  he  had  the  art  of  pleasing  and 
persuading  in  the  highest  degree,  and  knew  liow 
to  captivate  all  hearts  by  the  vivacity  of  his 
genius,  after  he  had  won  them  by  the  softness  ol 
hia  eloquence.     He  afterwards  gained  the  aama 

Li 


e4fi  HISTORY  OF 

ascendant  over  Charles  Xll.  which  he  had  then 
over  the  bishop  ;  and  all  the  world  knows,  that 
he  paid  wilh  his  life  the  honour  he  had  of  govern- 
ing the  most  ungovernable  and  obstinate  prince 
that  ever  sat  upon  a  throne. 

Gortz  had  a  private  conference  with  general 
Steinbock,*  at  which  he  promised  to  deliver  him 
up  the  fortress  of  Toningen.t  without  exposing 
the  bishop  administrator,  his  master,  to  any  dan- 
ger :  and,  at  the  same  time,  gave  the  strongest 
assurances  to  the  king  of  Denmark,  that  he  would 
defend  the  place  to  the  uttermost.  In  this  man- 
ner are  almost  all  negotiations  carried  on,  affairs 
of  state  being  of  a  very  different  nature  from  those 
of  private  persons  ;  the  honour  of  ministers  con- 
sisting wholly  in  success,  and  those  of  private 
persons  in  the  observance  of  their  promises. 

General  Steinbock  presented  himself  before 
Toningen  :  the  commandant  refused  to  open  the 
gates  to  him,  and  by  this  means  put  it  out  of  the 
king  of  Denmark's  power  to  allege  any  cause  of 
complaint  against  the  bishop  administrator ;  but 
Gortz  causes  an  order  to  be  given  in  the  name  of 
the  young  duke,  a  minor,  to  suffer  the  Swedish 
army  to  enter  the  town.  The  secretary  of  the 
cabinet,  named  Stamke,  signs  this  order  in  thci 
name  of  the  duke  of  Holstein  :  by  this  means 
Gortz  preserves  the  honour  of  an  infant  who  had 
not  as  yet  any  power  to  issue  crders;  and  he  at 
once  serves  the  king  of  Sweden,  to  whom  he  was 
desirous  to  make  his  court,  and  the  bishop  ad- 
ministrator his  master,  who  appeared  not  to  have 
consented  to  the  admission  of  the  Swedish  troops. 
The  governor  of  Toningen,  who  was  easily  gaic- 

•  Private  memoirs  of  Bassowitz,  Jan.  21,  1712. 
t  A  town  of  Sleswic;  in  Denmark,  situated  on  the  rive: 
E^der,  fourteen  miles  from  the  German  Ocean,  haviQR  • 
rcry  commodious  harbour. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  S43 

ed,  delivered  up  the  town  to  the  Swedes,  and 
Gortz  excused  himself  as  well  as  he  could  to  the 
king  of  Denmark,  by  protesting  that  the  whole 
had  been  transacted  without  his  consent. 

The  Swedes  retired  partly  within  the  walls,  and 
partly  under  the  cann  in  of  the  town  :  but  this 
did  not  save  them  :  f  jr  general  Steinbock  was 
obliged  to  surrender  himself  prisoner  of  war,  to- 
gether with  his  whole  army,  to  the  number  of 
eleven  thousand  men,  in  the  same  manner  as 
about  sixteen  thousand  of  their  countrymen  had 
done  at  the  battle  of  Pultowa. 

By  this  convention  it  was  agreed,  that  Stein- 
bock with  his  officers  and  men  might  be  ransomed 
or  exchanged.  The  price  for  the  general's  ran- 
som was  fixed  at  eight  thousand  German  crowns  ;* 
a  very  trifling  sum,  but  which  Steinbock  however 
was  not  able  to  raise ;  so  that  he  remained 
a  prisoner  in  Copenhagen  till  the  day  of  his 
death. 

The  territories  of  Holstein  now  remained  at 
the  mercy  of  the  incensed  conqueror.  The 
young  duke  became  the  object  of  the  king  of 
Denmark's  vengeance,  and  was  fated  to  pay  for 
the  abuse  which  Gortz  had  made  of  his  name : 
thus  did  the  ill  fortune  of  Charles  Xll.  fall  upon 
all  his  family. 

Gortz  perceiving  his  projects  thus  dissipated, 
and  being  still  resolved  to  act  a  disiiiii;ui.>hed 
part  in  the  general  confusion  of  affairs,  recalled 
to  mind  a  scheme  which  he  had  formed  to 
establish  a  neutrality  in  the  Swedish  territories 
in  Germany. 

The  king  of  Denmark  was  ready  to  t;»ke  pos- 
session of  I'oningen  ;  George.ehclor  of  Hanovcl, 
was  about  to  seize  Bremen  and  Verden,  vtiih  the 
city  of  Stade  ;  the  new-made  king  of  Prussia, 
*  About  twelve  tundred  paunds  sterlmg. 


244  HISTORY  OF 

Frederick  William,  cast  his  views  upon  Stetin, 
and  czar  P#ter  was  preparing  to  make  himself 
ma.ster  of  Finland  ;  and  all  the  territories  of 
Charles  XII.  those  of  Sweden  excepted,  were 
going  to  become  the  spoils  of  those  who  wanted 
to  sh^re  them.  How  then  could  so  many  dif- 
ferent interests  be  rendered  compatible  with  a 
neutrality  1  Gortz  entered  into  negotiation  at 
one  and  the  same  time  with  all  the  several 
princes  who  had  any  views  in  this  partition  ;  he 
continued  night  and  day  passing  from  one  pro- 
vince to  the  other  ;  he  engaged  the  governor  of 
Bremen  and  Verden  to  put  those  two  duchies 
into  the  bands  of  the  elector  of  Hanover  by  way 
of  sequestration,  so  that  the  Danes  should  not 
take  possession  of  them  for  themselves  :  he  pre- 
vailed with  the  king  of  Prussia  to  accept  jointly 
with  the  duke  of  Holstein,  of  rhe  sequestration 
of  Stetin  and  Wismar,  in  consideration  of 
which,  the  king  of  Denmark  was  to  act  nothing 
against  Holstein,  and  was  not  to  enter  Toningen. 
It  was  most  certainly  a  strange  way  of  serving 
Charles  XII.  to  put  his  towns  into  the  hands  of 
those  who  might  choose  if  they  %vouid  ever  re- 
store them  ;  but  Gortz,  by  delivering  these  places 
to  them  as  pledges,  bound  them  to  a  neutrality^ 
at  least  for  some  time  ;  and  he  was  in  hopes  ta 
be  able  afterwards  to  bring  Hanover  and  Bran- 
denburg to  declare  for  Sweden  :  he  prevailed 
on  the  king  of  Prussia  whose  ruined  dominions 
stood  in  need  of  peace,  to  enter  into  his  views, 
and  in  short  he  found  means  to  render  himself 
necessary  to  all  these  princes,  and  disposed  of 
the  possessions  of  Charles  Xll.  like  a  guardian, 
who  gives  up  one  part  of  his  ward's  estate  to 
preserve  the  other,  and  of  a  ward  incapable  of 
managing  his  affairs  himself  ;  and  all  this  with- 
out any  regular  authority  or  rommission,  or  othcs 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  245 

•warrant  for  his  conduct,  than  full  powprs  given 
him  by  the  bishop  of  Lubec,  who  had  no 
authority  to  grant  such  powers  from  Charles 
himself. 

Such  was  the  baron  de  Gortz,  and  such  his 
actions,  which  have  not  hitherto  been  sufficiently 
known.  There  have  been  instances  of  an  Oxen- 
stiern,  a  Richlieu,  and  an  Alberoni,  influencing 
the  aftairs  of  all  parts  of  Europe  ;  but  that  the 
privy  counsellor  of  a  bishop  of  Lubec  should  do 
the  same  as  they,  without  his  conduct  being 
avowed  by  any  one,  is  a  thing  hitherto  un- 
heard of. 

June,  1713.]  Nevertheless  he  succeeded  to 
his  wishes  in  the  beginning ;  for  he  made  a 
treaty  with  the  king  of  Prussia,  by  which  that 
nlonarch  engaged,  on  condition  of  keeping  Stetiu 
in  sequestration,  to  preserve  the  rest  of  Pome- 
rania  for  Charles  XII.  In  virtue  of  this  treaty, 
Gortz  ma<le  a  proposal  to  the  governor  of  Pome- 
rania,  AJeyerfeld,  to  give  up  the  fortress  of 
Stetin  to  the  king  of  Prussia  for  the  sake  of 
peace,  thinking  that  the  Swedish  governor  of 
Stetin  would  prove  as  easy  to  be  persuaded  as 
the  Holsteiner  who  had  the  command  of  Tonin- 
gen  ;  but  the  officers  of  Charles  XII.  were  not 
accustomed  to  obey  such  orders.  IVleyerfeld 
made  answer,  that  no  one  should  enter  Stetin 
but  over  his  dead  body  and  the  ruins  of  the 
place,  and  immediately  sent  notice  to  his  master 
of  the  strange  proposal.  The  messenger  at  bis 
arrival  found  Charles  prisoner  at  Uemirlash,  in 
consequence  of  his  adventure  at  Mender,  and  it 
was  doubtful,  at  that  time,  whether  he  would 
not  remain  all  his  life  in  confmement  in  Turkey, 
or  else  be  banished  to  some  of  the  islands  in  the 
Archipelago,  or  some  part  of  Asia  under  the 
dominion  of   the    Ottoman    Porte.     Howovor 


846  HISTORY  OF 

Charles  from  his  prison  sent  the  same  orders  to 
Meyerfeld,  as  he  had  before  done  to  Steinbock  ; 
namely,  rather  to  perish  than  to  submit  to  his 
enemies,  and  even  commanded  him  to  take  his 
inflexibility  for  his  example. 

Gortz,  finding  that  the  governor  of  Stetin  had 
broke  in  upon  his  measures,  and  would  neither 
hearken  to  a  neutrality  nor  a  sequestration,  took 
it  into  bis  head,  not  only  to  sequester  the  town 
of  Stetin  of  his  own  authority,  but  also  the  city 
of  Stralsund,  and  found  means  to  make  the 
same  kind  of  treaty  (June,  1713,)  with  the  king 
of  Poland,  elector  of  Saxony,  for  that  place, 
which  he  had  done  with  the  elector  of  Branden- 
burg for  Stetin.  He  clearly  saw  how  impossible 
it  would  be  for  the  Swedes  to  keep  possession 
of  those  places  without  either  men  or  money, 
while  their  king  was  a  captive  in  Turkey,  and  he 
thought  himself  sure  of  turning  aside  the  scourge 
of  war  from  the  North  by  means  of  these  se- 
questrations. The  king  of  Denmark  himself  at 
length  gave  into  the  projects  of  Gortz  :  the  latter 
had  gained  an  entire  ascendant  over  prince 
Menzikoff,  the  czar's  general  and  favourite, 
whom  he  had  persuaded  that  the  duchy  of 
Holstein  must  be  ceded  to  his  master,  and 
flattered  the  czar  with  the  prospect  of  opening 
a  canal  from  Holstein  into  the  Baltic  Sea  ;  an 
enterprise  perfectly  conformable  to  the  inclina- 
tion and  views  of  this  royal  founder  :  and,  above 
all,  he  laboured  to  insinuate  to  him,  that  he 
might  obtain  a  new  increase  of  power,  by  con- 
descending to  become  one  of  the  powers  of  the 
empire,  which  would  entitle  him  to  a  vote  in  the 
diet  of  Ratisbon,  a  right  that  he  might  afterwards 
for  ever  maintain  by  that  of  arms. 

In  a  word,  no  one  could  put  on  more  different 
appearances,    adapt   himself  to  more  opposite 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  «47 

interests,  or  act  a  more  complicated  part,  than 
did  this  skilful  negotiator  ;  he  even  went  so  far 
as  to  engage  prince  Menzikoff  to  ruin  the  very 
town  of  Stetin,  which  he  was  endeavouring  to 
save  ;  and  in  which,  at  length,  to  his  misfortune, 
be  succeeded  but  too  well. 

When  the  king  of  Prussia  saw  a  Russian  army 
before  Stetin,  he  found  that  place  would  be  lost 
to  him,  and  remain  in  the  possession  of  the 
czar.  This  was  just  what  Gortz  expected  and 
waited  for.  Prince  IMenzikoff  was  in  want  cJ. 
money  ;  Gortz  got  the  king  of  Prussia  to  lend 
him  four  hundred  thousand  crowns  :  he  after- 
wards sent  a  message  to  the  governor  of  the 
place,  to  know  of  him — whether  he  would  rather 
choose  to  see  Stetin  in  ashes,  and  under  the 
dominion  of  Russia,  or  to  trust  it  in  the  hands 
of  the  king  of  Prussia,  who  would  engage  to 
restore  it  to  the  king,  his  master '' — The  com- 
mandant at  length  suffered  himself  to  be  per- 
suaded, and  gave  up  the  place,  which  iMenzi- 
kofF  entered  ;  and,  in  consideration  of  the  four 
hundred  thousand  crowns,  delivered  it  after- 
wards, together  with  all  the  territories  thereto 
adjoining,  into  the  hands  of  the  king  of  Prussia, 
who,  for  form's  sake,  left  therein  two  battalions 
of  the  troops  of  Holstein,  and  has  never  since 
restored  that  part  of  Pomerania. 

From  this  period,  the  second  king  of  Prussia, 
successor  to  a  weak  and  prodigal  father,  laid  the 
foundation  of  that  greatness,  to  which  his  state 
has  since  arrived  by  military  discipline  and 
economy. 

The  baron  de  Gortz,  who  put  so  many  springn 
iu  motion,  could  not,  however,  succeed  in  pre- 
vailing on  the  Danes  to  spare  the  duchy  o( 
Holstein,  or  forbear  taking  possession  of  Tonin- 
geb.     He  failed  in  what  appeared  to  have  been 


948  HISTORY  OF 

his  first  object,  though  he  succeeded  in  all  hia 
Other  views,  and  particularly  in  that  of  making 
himself  the  most  important  personage  of  the 
North,  which,  indeed,  was  his  principal  object. 
The  elector  of  Hanover  then  had  secured  to 
Himself  Bremen  and  Verden.  of  which  Charles 
XII.  was  now  stripped.  The  Saxon  army  was 
aefore  Wismar  (Sept.  1715);  Steiin  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  king  of  Prussia  ;  the  Russians  were 
"eady  to  lay  siege  to  Straisund,  in  conjunction 
with  the  Saxons  ;  and  these  latter  had  already 
landed  in  the  island  of  Rugen,  and  the  czar,  in 
the  midst  of  the  numberless  negotiations  on  all 
sides,  while  others  were  disputing  about  neu- 
tralities and  partitions,  makes  a  descent  upon 
Finland.  After  having  himself  pointed  the  artil- 
lery against  Straisund,  he  left  the  rest  to  the  care 
of  his  allies  and  prince  Menzikoff,  and,  embark- 
ing in  the  month  of  May,  on  the  Baltic  Sea,  en 
board  a  ship  of  fifty  guns,  which  he  himself  caused 
to  be  built  at  Petersburg,  he  sailed  for  the  coast 
of  Finland,  followed  by  a  fleet  of  nmety-two 
whole,  and  one  hundred  and  ten  half-gallies, 
having  on  board  near  sixteen  thousand  troops. 
He  made  his  descent  at  Elsingford,  (May  2^. 
N.  S.  1713.)  the  most  southern  part  of  that  cold 
and  barren  country.  lying  in  61  degrees  north  la- 
titude ;  and,  notwithstanding  the  numberless  dif- 
ficulties he  had  to  encounter,  succeeded  in  his 
design.  He  caused  a  feint  attack  to  be  made  on 
one  side  of  the  harbour,  while  he  landed  his 
troops  on  the  other,  and  took  possession  of  the 
town.  He  then  made  himself  master  of  Abo, 
Borgo,  and  the  whole  coast.  The  Swedes  now 
seemed  not  to  have  one  resource  left ;  for  it  was 
at  this  very  time,  that  their  army,  under  the 
command  of  general  Steinbock,  was  obliged  to 
mrreader  prisoners  of  war  at  Toningen, 


PETER  1  HE  GREAT.  249 

These  repeated  disasters  which  bt'ft-l  Charley, 
were,  as  we  have  already  sliewn,  followed  by  tlie 
loss  of  Bremen,  Verdeu,  Stelin,  and  a  part  of 
Pomerania  ;  and  that  prince  himself,  with  his 
ally  and  friend,  Stanislaus,  were  afterwards  both 
prisoners  in  Turkey  :  nevertheless,  he  was  6ot  to 
be  undeceived  in  the  flattering  notion  he  had  en- 
tertained of  returning  to  Poland,  at  the  head  of 
an  Ottoman  army,  replacing  Stanislaus  on  the 
throne,  and  once  again  making  his  enemies 
tremble. 


CHAP.  XXIV. 


Saocessta  of  Peter  the  Great.— Return  of  Charles  XII. 
into  bU  own  dominioDS, 

"pETER,  while  he  was  following  the 
course  of  his  conquests,  completed 
the  establishment  of  his  navy,  brought  twelve 
thousand  families  to  settle  in  Petersburg,  kept  al. 
his  allies  firm  to  his  person  and  fortunes,  not  • 
withstanding  they  bad  all  different  interests  and 
opposite  views  ;  and  with  his  fleet  kept  in  awe 
all  the  sea-ports  of  Sweden,  on  the  gulfs  of  Fin- 
land and  Bothnia. 

Prince  Galitzin,  one  of  his  land-generals,  whom 
he  had  formed  himself,  as  he  had  done  all  his 
other  officers,  advanced  from  Elsingford,  where 
the  czar  had  made  his  descent,  into  the  midst  of 
the  country,  near  the  village  of  Tavasthus,  which 
was  a  post  that  commanded  the  gulf  of  Both- 
nia, and  was  defended  by  a  few  Swedish  regi- 
ments, and  about  eight  thousand  militia.  Id 
this  situation,  a  battle  was  unavoidable. (Mar.  1."j, 
1714.)  the  event  of  which  proved  favourable  to 
die  Russians,  who  entirely  routed  the  whole 
L2 


£50  HISTORY  OF 

Swedish  army,  aud  penetrated  as  far  as  Vaza 
so  that  they  were  now  masters  of  about  eighty 
leagues  of  country. 

The  Swedes  were  still  in  possession  of  a  fleet, 
with  which  they  kept  the  sea.  Peter  had,  for 
a  considerable  time,  waited  with  impatience  for 
an  opportunity  of  establishing  the  reputation  of 
his  new  marine.  Accordingly  he  set  out  from 
Petersburg,  and  having  got  together  a  fleet  of 
sixteen  ships  of  the  line,  and  one  hundred  and 
eighty  galleys,  fit  for  working  among  the  rocks 
and  shoals  that  surround  the  island  of  Aland, 
and  the  other  islands  in  the  Baltic  Sea,  border- 
ing upon  the  Swedish  coast,  he  fell  in  with  the 
fleet  of  that  nation  near  their  own  shores.  This 
armament  greatly  exceeded  his  in  the  largeness 
of  the  ships,  but  was  inferior  in  the  number  of 
galleys,  and  more  proper  for  engaging  in  the 
open  sea,  than  among  rocks,  or  near  the  shore, 
'i  he  advantage  the  czar  had  in  this  respect  was 
entirely  owing  to  himself:  he  served  in  the  rank 
of  rear-admiral  on  board  his  own  fleet,  and  re- 
ceived all  the  necessary  orders  from  admiral 
Apraxin.  Peter  resolved  to  make  himself  mas- 
ter of  the  island  of  Aland,  which  lies  only  twelve 
leagues  oiF  the  Swedish  coast;  and,  though 
obliged  to  pass  full  in  view  of  the  enemy's  fleet, 
he  effected  this  bold  and  hazardous  enterprise. 
His  galleys  forced  a  passage  through  the  enemy, 
whose  cannon  did  not  fire  low  enough  to  hurt 
them,  and  entered  Aland  ;  but  as  that  coast  ie 
almost  surrounded  with  rocks,  the  czar  caused 
eighty  small  galleys  to  be  transported  by  men 
over  a  point  of  land,  and  launched  into  the  sea, 
at  a  place  called  Hango,  where  his  large  ships 
were  at  anchor.  Erenschild,  the  Swedish  rear- 
admiral,  thinking  that  he  might  easily  take  or 
sink  all  these  galleys,  stood  in  shore,  in  order  to 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  2j1 

reconnoitre  iheir  situation,  but  was  received  with 
80  brisk  a  fire  from  the  Russian  fleet,  that  most 
of  his  men  were  killed  or  wounded  ;  and  all  the 
galleys  and  praams  he  had  brought  with  him 
•were  taken,  together  with  his  own  ship.  (Aug.  8.) 
The  admiral  himself  endeavoured  to  escape  iu  a 
boat,  but  being  wounded,  was  obliged  to  sur- 
render himself  prisoner,  and  was  brought  on 
board  the  galley  where  the  czar  was,  navigating 
it  himself.  The  scattered  remainsof  the  Swedish 
fleet  made  the  best  of  their  way  home  ;  and  the 
news  of  this  accident  threw  all  Stockholm  into 
confusion,  which  now  began  to  tremble  for  its 
own  safety. 

Much  about  the  same  time,  colonel  Scouvalow 
Neuschlof  attacked  the  only  remaining  fortress 
on  the  western  side  of  Finland,  and  made  him- 
self master  of  it,  after  a  most  obstinate  resistance 
on  the  part  of  the  besieged. 

This  affair  of  Aland  was,  next  to  that  of  Pul- 
towa,  the  most  glorious  that  had  ever  befallen 
the  arms  of  Peter  the  Great,  who  now  saw  him- 
self master  of  Finland,  the  government  of  which 
he  committed  to  prince  Galitzin,  and  retuined  u\ 
Petersburg  (Sept.  15.)',  victorious  over  the  whole 
naval  force  of  Sweden,  and  more  than  ever  re- 
spected by  his  allies;  the  stormy  season  now 
approaching,  not  permitting  him  to  remain  longer 
with  his  ships  in  the  Finlandish  and  Bothnic  seas. 
His  good  fortune  also  brought  him  back  to  his 
capital,  just  as  the  czarina  was  brought  to  bed  of 
a  princess,  who  died,  however,  about  a  year 
afterwards.  He  then  instituted  the  order  of  St. 
Catherine,  in  honour  of  his  consort,*  and  cele- 

•  In  the  preamble  lo  this  institution,  the  czar  declared, 
that  it  was  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  her  love  in  bia 
distresaed  condition  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Pruth.    He 


«53  HISTORY  OF 

brated  the  birth  of  his  daughter  by  a  triumphal 
entry,  which  was  of  all  the  festivals  w  which  he 
had  accustomed  his  subjects,  that  which  they 
held  in  the  greatesc  esteem.  This  ceremony  was 
ushered  in  by  bringing  nice  Swedish  galleys,  and 
seven  praams  filled  with  prisoners,  and  rear-ad- 
miral Erenscbild's  own  ship,  into  the  harbour  of 
Cronstadt. 

The  cannon,  colours,  and  standards,  taken 
in  the  expedition  to  Finland,  and  which  had 
come  home  in  the  Russian  admiral's  ship,  were 
brought  on  this  occasion  to  Petersburg,  and  en- 
tered that  metropolis  in  order  of  battle.  A 
triumphal  arch,  which  the  czar  had  caused  to  be 
erected,  and  which,  as  usual,  was  made  from  a 
model  of  his  own,  was  decorated  with  the  insig- 
nia of  his  conquests.  Under  this  arch  the  victors 
marched  in  procession,  with  admiral  Apraxin,  at 
their  head  ;  then  followed  the  czar  in  quality  of 
rear-admiral,  and  the  other  officers  according  to 
their  several  ranks.  They  were  all  presented 
one  after  another  to  the  vice-admiral  Rodamo- 
noski,  who,  at  this  ceremony  represented  the 
sovereign.  This  temporary  vice-emperor  dis- 
tributed gold  medals  amongst  all  the  officers,  and 
others  of  silver  to  the  soldiers  and  sailors.  The 
Swedish  prisoners  likewise  passed  under  the 
triumphal  arch,  and  admiral  Erenschild  followed 
immediately  after  the  czar,  his  conqueror.  When 
they  came  to  the  place  where  the  vice-czar  was 
seated  on  his  throne,  admiral  Apraxin  presented 
to  him  rear-admiral  Peter,  who  demanded  to  be 

invested  her  with  full  power  to  bestow  it  oti  such  of  her 
own  sex  as  she  should  think  proper.  The  ensigns  of 
this  order  are,  a  broad  white  riband,  and  wore  over  the 
right  shoulder,  with  a  medal  of  St.  Catherine,  adorned 
with  precious  stones,  and  the  motto,  '  Out  of  love  and 
fidelity.* 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  253 

made  vice-admiral,  in  reward  for  his  services. 
It  was  then  put  to  the  vote,  if  his  request  should 
be  granted  ;  and  it  may  easily  be  conceived  that 
he  had  the  majority  on  his  side. 

After  this  ceremony  was  over,  which  filled  every 
heart  with  joy,  and  inspired  every  mind  with 
emulation,  with  a  love  for  his  country,  arfti  a  thirst 
of  fame,  the  czar  made  the  following  speech  to 
those  present :  a  speech  which  deserves  to  be 
transmitted  to  the  latest  postesity. 

'  Countrymen  and  friends  !  what  man  is  there 
among  you,  who  could  have  thought,  twenty  years 
ago,  that  we  should  one  day  fight  together  on  the 
Baltic  Sea,  in  ships  built  by  our  own  hands  ;  and 
that  we  should  establish  settlements  in  countries 
conquered  by  our  own  labours  and  valour? — 
Greece  is  said  to  have  been  the  ancient  seat  of 
the  arts  and  sciences:  they  afterwards  took  up 
their  abode  in  Italy,  from  whence  they  spread 
themselves  through  every  part  of  Europe.  It  is 
now  our  turn  to  call  them  ours,  if  you  will  second 
my  designs,  by  joiniii^j  study  to  obedience.  The 
arts  circulat*  in  this  globe,  as  the  blood  does  in 
the  human  body  ;  and  perhaps  they  may  establish 
their  empire  amongst  us,  on  their  return  back  to 
Greece,  their  mother  country  ;  and  I  even  venture 
to  hope,  that  we  may  one  day  put  the  most  civi- 
lized nations  to  the  blush,  by  our  noble  labours 
and  the  solid  glory  resulting  therefrom.' 

Here  is  the  true  substance  of  this  speech,  so 
every  way  worthy  of  a  great  founder,  and  which 
has  lost  its  chief  beauties  in  this,  and  every  other 
translation  ;  but  the  principal  merit  of  this  elo- 
quent harangue  is,  its  having  been  spoken  by  a 
Tictorious  monarch,  at  once  the  founder  and  law- 
giver of  his  empire. 

The  old  boyards  listened  to  this  speech  with 
grcp/^r  regret  for  the  abolition  of  their  ancient 


S54  HISTORY  OF 

customs,  than  admiration  of  their  master's  glory  j 
but  the  young  ones  could  not  hear  him  without 
tears  of  joy. 

The  splendour  of  these  times  were  further 
heightened  by  the  return  of  the  Russian  ambas- 
sadors from  Constantinople,  (Sept.  15,  1714.) 
with  a  confirmation  of  the  peace  with  the  Turks  : 
an  ambassador  sent  by  Sha  Hussein  from  Persia, 
had  arrived  some  time  before  witb  a  present  to 
the  czar  of  an  elephant  and  five  lions.  He  re- 
ceived, at  the  same  time,  an  ambassador  from 
IMahomet  Bahadir,  khan  of  the  Usbeck  lartars, 
requesting  his  protection  against  another  tribe  of 
Tartars  ;  so  that  both  extremities  of  Asia  and 
Europe  seemed  to  join  to  offer  him  homage,  and 
add  to  his  glory. 

The  regency  of  Stockholm,  driven  to  despaii 
by  the  desperate  situation  of  their  affairs,  and  the 
absence  of  their  sovereign,  who  seemed  to  have 
abandoned  his  dominions,  had  come  to  a  resolu- 
tion no  more  to  consult  him  in  relation  to  their 
proceedings  ;  and,  immediately  after  the  victory 
the  czar  gained  over  their  navy,  they  sent  to  the 
conqueror  to  demand  a  passport,  for  an  officer 
charged  with  proposals  of  peace.  The  passport 
was  sent ;  but.  just  as  the  person  appointed  to 
carry  on  the  negotiation  was  on  the  point  of  set- 
ting out.  the  princess  Ulrica  Eleonora,  sister  to 
Charles  XII.  received  advice  from  the  king  her 
brother,  that  he  was  preparing,  at  length,  to  quit 
Turkey,  and  return  home  to  fight  liis  own  battles. 
Upon  this  news  the  regency  did  not  dare  to  send 
the  negotiator  (whom  they  had  already  privately 
named)  to  the  czar  ;  and,  therefore,  resolved  to 
support  their  ill-fortune  till  the  arrival  of  Charles 
to  retrieve  it. 

In  effect,  Charles,  after  a  stay  of  five  years  and 
some  months  in  Turkey,  set  out  from  that  King- 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  255 

dom  in  the  latter  end  of  October,  1714.  Every 
one  knows  that  he  observed  the  same  siuguiaritv 
in  his  journey,  wHlch  characterized  all  the  actions 
of  his  life.  He  arrived  at  Stralsund  itn  '■22d  of 
November  following.  As  soon  as  he  got  there, 
baron  de  Gortz  came  to  pay  his  court  to  him ; 
and,  though  he  had  been  the  instrument  of  one 
part  of  his  misfortunes,  yet  he  justified  his  con- 
duct with  so  much  art,  and  filled  the  imagination 
of  Charles  with  such  flattering  hopes,  that  he 
gained  his  confidence,  as  he  had  already  done  that 
of  every  other  minister  and  prince  with  whom  he 
had  entered  into  any  negotiations.  In  short,  he 
made  him  believe,  that  means  might  be  found  to 
draw  off  the  czar's  allies,  and  thereby  procure  an 
honourable  peace,  or  at  least  to  carry  on  the  vear 
upon  an  equal  footing  ;  and  from  this  time  Gortz 
gained  a  greater  ascendancy  over  the  mind  of  the 
king  of  Sweden  than  ever  count  Piper  had. 

The  first  thing  which  Charles  did  after  his  arri- 
val at  Stralsund  was  to  demand  a  supply  of  money 
from  the  citizens  of  Stockholm,  who  readily  parted 
with  what  little  they  had  left,  as  not  being  able 
to  refuse  any  thing  to  a  king,  who  asked  only  to 
bestow,  who  lived  as  hard  as  the  meanest  soldier, 
and  exposed  his  life  equally  in  defence  of  his 
country.  His  misfortunes,  his  captivity,  his  re- 
turn to  his  dominions,  so  long  deprived  of  his 
presence,  were  arguments  which  prepossessed 
alike  his  own  subjects  and  foreigners  in  his  fa- 
vour, who  could  not  forbear  at  once  to  blame  and 
admire,  to  compassionate  and  to  assist  him.  His 
reputation  was  of  a  kind  totally  diflfering  from  that 
of  Peter  the  Great :  it  consisted  not  in  cherishing 
the  arts  and  sciences,  in  enacting  laws,  in  esta- 
blishing a  form  of  government,  nor  in  introducing 
commerce  among  his  subjects  ;  it  was  confined 
entirely  to  his  own  person.     He  placed  bis  chief 


S56  HISTORY  OF 

merit  in  a  valour  supcri-^r  to  what  is  coirjnoiily 
called  courage.  Hs  detendedl^  dominions  ■with 
a  greatness  of  soal  equal  to  that  \alour,  and 
aimed  only  to  inspire  other  nations  with  awe  and 
respect  for  him :  hence  he  had  more  partizans 
than  allies. 


CHAP.  XXV. 


State  of  Europe  at  the  return  of  Charles  ^I. 
Siege  of  Stralsund. 

"Wi^HEN  Charles  XII.  returned  to  his  dominions 
in  the  year  1714,  he  found  the  state  of  af- 
fairs in  Europe  very  diflferent  from  that  in  which 
he  had  left  them.  Queen  Anne  of  England  was 
dead,  after  having  made  peace  with  France. 
Lewis  XIV.  had  secured  the  monarchy  of  Spain 
for  his  grandson  the  duke  of  Anjou,  and  had 
obliged  the  emperor  Charles  VI.  and  the  Dutct 
to  agree  to  a  peace,  which  their  situation  rendered 
necessary  to  them  ;  so  that  the  affairs  of  Europe 
bad  put  on  altogether  a  new  face. 

Those  of  the  north  had  undergone  a  still  greater 
change.  Peter  was  become  sole  arbiter  in  that 
part  of  the  world  :  the  elector  of  Hanover,  who 
had  been  called  to  fill  the  British  throne,  had 
views  of  extending  his  territories  in  Germany,  at 
the  expense  of  Sweden,  who  had  never  had  any 
possessions  ia  that  country,  but  since  the  reign  of 
the  great  G  ustavus.  The  king  of  Denmark  aimed 
at  recovering  Scania,  the  best  province  of  Swedei:, 
which  had  formerly  belonged  to  the  Danes.  The 
king  of  Prussia,  as  heir  to  the  dukes  of  Pome- 
rania,  laid  claim  to  a  part  of  thar  province.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  Holstein  family,  oppressed 
Dy  the  king  of  Denmark,  and  the  duke  of  Meek- 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  2r>7 

Icnburg,  almost  at  open  war  with  his  subjects, 
v\-ere  suin-^  to  Peter  the  Great  to  take  them  under 
his  protection.  The  king  of  Poland,  elector  of 
Saxony,  was  desirous  to  have  the  duchy  of  Cour- 
land  annexed  to  Poland  ;  so  that,  from  the  Elbe 
to  the  Baltic  Sea,  Peter  the  First  was  considered 
as  the  support  of  the  several  crowned  heads,  as 
Charles  XII.  had  been  their  greatest  terror. 

Many  negotiations  were  set  on  foot  after  the 
leturn  of  Charles  to  his  dominions,  but  nothing 
had  been  done.  That  prince  thought  he  could 
raise  a  sufiBcient  number  of  ships  of  war  and  pri- 
vateers, to  put  a  stop  to  the  rising  power  of  the 
czar  by  sea  ;  with  respect  to  the  land  war,  he  de- 
pended upon  his  own  valour  ;  and  Gortz,  who 
was  on  a  sudden  become  his  prime  minister, 
persuaded  him,  that  he  might  find  means  to  de- 
fray the  expense,  by  coining  copper  money,  to 
be  taken  at  ninety  six  limes  less  than  its  real 
value,  a  tKing  unparalleled  in  the  histories  of 
any  state  ;  but  in  the  month  of  April,  1715,  the 
v^  first  Swedish  privateers  that  put  to  sea  were 
taken  by  the  czar's  men  of  war,  and  a  Russian 
army  marched  into  the  heart  of  Pomeratfia. 

'Ihe  Prussians,  Danes,  and  Saxons,  now  sat 
down  with  their  united  forces  before  Stralsund, 
and  Charles  XII.  beheld  himself  returned  from 
his  confinement  at  Demirtash  and  Demirtoca  on 
the  Black  Sea,  only  to  be  more  closely  pent  up 
on  the  borders  of  the  Baltic. 

*\Ve  have  already  shewn,  in  the  histor)'  of  this 
extraordinary  man,  with  what  haughty  and  un- 
embarrassed resolution  he  braved  the  united 
forces  of  his  enemies  in  Stralsund  ;  and  shall 
therefore,  in  this  place,  only  add  a  single  circum- 
stance, which,  though  trivial,  may  serve  to  shew 
the  peculiarity  of  his  characte  •.  The  greatest 
part  of  his  officers  having  beer    either  killed  or 


f58  HISTORY  OF 

wounded  during  the  siege,  the  duty  fell  bard 
upon  the  few  who  were  left.  Baron  de  Reichel, 
a  colonel,  having  sustained  a  long  engagement 
upon  the  ramparts,  and  being  tired  out  by  re- 
peated watchings  and  fatigues,  had  thrown  him- 
self upon  a  bench  to  take  a  little  repose  ;  when 
he  was  called  up  to  mount  guard  again  upon  the 
ramparts.  As  he  was  dragging  himself  along, 
hardly  able  to  stand,  and  cursing  the  obstinacy 
of  the  king  his  master,  who  subjected  all  those 
about  him  to' such  insufferable  and  fruitless  fa- 
tigues, Charles  happened  to  overhear  him.  Upon 
which,  stripping  off  his  own  cloak,  he  spread  it 
on  the  ground  before  him,  saving,  '  My  dear 
Reichel,  you  are  quite  spent :  come,  I  have  had 
an  hour's  sleep,  which  has  refreshed  me,  I'll  take 
the  guard  for  you,  while  you  finish  your  nap,  and 
will  wake  you  when  I  thick  it  is  time  ;'  and  so 
saying,  he  wrapt  the  colonel  up  in  his  cloak  ;  and, 
notwithstanding  all  his  resistance,  obliged  him  to 
lie  down  to  sleep,  and  mounted  the  guard  himself. 

It  was  during  this  siege  that  the  elector  of 
Hanover,  latel  v  made  king  of  England,  purchased 
of  the  king  of  Denmark  the  province  of  Bremen 
and  Verden,  with  the  city  of  Stade.  (Oct.  1715.) 
which  the  Danes  had  taken  from  Charles  XII. 
This  purchase  cost  king  George  eight  hundred 
thousand  German  crowns.  In  this  manner  were 
the  dominions  of  Charles  bartered  away,  while 
he  defended  the  city  of  Stralsund,  inch  by  inch, 
till  at  length  nothing  was  left  of  it  but  a  heap  of 
niins,  which  his  officers  compelled  him  to  leave  ; 
(Dec.  1713.)  and,  when  he  was  in  a  place  of 
safety,  general  Ducker  delivered  up  those  ruins 
to  the  king  of  Prussia. 

Some  time  afterwards,  Ducker,  being  presented 
to  Charles,  that  monarch  reproached  him  with 
having   capitulated     with    his    enemies ;    whee 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  259 

Ducker  replied,  '  I  had  too  great  a  regard  for 
your  majesty's  honour,  to  continue  to  defend  a 
place  which  you  was  obliged  to  leave.'  How- 
ever the  Prussians  continued  in  possession  of  it 
no  longer  than  the  year  1721,  when  ttey  gave  it 
up  at  the  general  peace. 

During  the  siege  of  Stralsund,  Charles  received 
another  mortification,  which  would  have  been 
still  more  severe,  if  his  heart  had  been  as  sensi- 
ble to  the  emotions  of  friendship,  as  it  was  to 
those  of  fame  and  honour.  His  prime  minister, 
count  Piper,  a  man  famous  throughout  all  Europe, 
and  of  unshaken  fidelity  to  his  prince  (notwith- 
standing the  assertions  of  certain  rash  persons, 
or  the  authority  of  a  mistaken  writer)  :  this  Piper, 
I  say,  had  been  the  victim  of  his  master's  am- 
bitiou  ever  since  the  battle  of  Pultowa.  As  there 
was  as  that  time  no  cartel  for  the  exchange  of 
prisoners  subsisting  between  the  Russians  and 
Swedes,  he  had  remained  in  confinemect  at 
Moscow  ,  and  though  he  had  not  been  sent  into 
Siberia,  as  t-he  other  prisoners  were,  yet  his  situ- 
ation was  greatly  to  be  pitied.  The  czar's  finances 
at  that  time  were  not  managed  with  so  much 
fidelity  as  they  ought  to  be,  and  his  many  new 
establishments  required  an  expense  which  he 
could  with  difiiculty  answer.  In  particular,  he 
owed  a  considerable  sum  of  money  to  the  Dutch, 
on  account  of  two  of  their  merchant-ships  which 
had  been  burnt  on  the  coast  of  Finland,  in  the 
descent  the  czar  had  made  on  that  country.  Peter 
pretended  that  the  Swedes  were  to  make  good 
the  damage,  and  wanted  to  engage  count  Piper 
to  charge  himself  with  this  debt :  accordingly  he 
was  sent  for  from  Moscow  to  Petersburg,  and  his 
liberty  was  offered  him,  in  case  he  could  draw 
upon  Sweden  letters  of  exchange  to  the  amount 
of  sixty  thousand  crowns.     It  is  said  he  actually 


HGO  HISTORY  OF 

did  draw  b.lls  for  this  sum  upon  his  wife  at  Stock 
holm,  but  that  she  being  unable  or  unwilling  to 
take  them  up,  they  were  returned,  and  the  king 
of  Sweden  never  gave  himself  the  least  concern 
about  paying  the  money.  Be  this  as  it  may,  count 
Piper  was  closely  confined  in  the  castle  of  Schlus- 
selburg,  where  he  died  the  year  after,  at  the  age 
of  seventy.  His  remains  were  sent  to  the  king 
of  Sweden,  who  gave  them  a  magnificent  burial ; 
a  vain  and  melancholy  return  to  an  old  servant, 
for  a  life  of  suffering,  and  so  deplorable  an  end  ! 

Peter  was  satisfied  with  having  got  possession 
of  Livonia,  Esthonia,  Carelia,  and  Ingria,  which 
he  looked  upon  as  his  own  provinces,  and  to 
■which  he  had,  moreover,  added  almost  all  Fin- 
land, which  served  as  a  kind  of  pledge,  in  case 
his  enemies  should  conclude  a  peace.  He  had 
married  one  of  his  nieces  to  Charles  Leopold, 
duke  of  Mecklenburg,  in  the  month  of  .April  of 
the  same  year,  (1715.)  so  that  all  the  sovereigns 
of  the  north  were  now  either  his  allies  or  his 
creatures.  In  Poland,  he  kept  the  enemies  of 
king  Augustus  in  awe;  one  of  his  armies,  con- 
sisting of  about  eight  thousand  men,  having, 
without  any  loss,  quelled  several  of  those  con- 
federacies, which  are  so  frequent  in  that  country 
of  liberty  and  anarchy  :  on  the  other  hand,  the 
Turks,  by  strictly  observing  their  treaties,  left 
him  at  full  liberty  to  exert  his  power,  and  execute 
his  schemes  in  their  utmost  extent. 

In  this  flourishing  situation  of  his  affairs,  scarcely 
a  day  passed  without  being  distinguished  by  new 
establishments,  either  in  the  navy,  the  army,  or 
the  legislature  :  he  himself  composed  a  military 
code  for  the  infantry. 

Nov  8]  He  likewise  founded  a  naval  academy 
at  Petersburg  ;  dispatched  Lange  to  Chma  and 
Siberia,  with  a  commission  of  trade  ;  set  mathe- 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  201 

maticians  fo  work,  in  drawing  charts  of  the 
whole  empire  ;  built  a  summer's  palace  at  Peters- 
hoflF ;  and  at  the  same  time  built  forts  on  the 
banks  of  the  Irtish,  stopped  the  incursions  and 
ravages  of  the  Bukari  *  on  the  one  side,  and,  on 
the  rther,  suppressed  the  Tartars  of  Kouban. 

iri5.]  His  prosperity  seemed  now  to  be  at  its 
zenith,  by  the  empress  Catherine's  being  de- 
livered of  a  son,  and  an  heir  to  his  dominions 
being  given  him,  in  a  prince  born  to  the  czarovvitz 
Alexis  ;  but  the  joy  for  these  happy  events,  which 
fell  out  within  a  few  days  of  each  otlier,  was 
soon  damped  by  the  death  of  the  empress's  son; 
and  the  sequel  of  this  history  will  shew  us,  that 
the  fate  of  the  czarowitz  was  too  unfortunate,  for 
the  birth  of  a  son  to  this  prince  to  be  looked  upon 
as  a  happiness. 

The  delivery  of  the  czarina  put  a  stop  for  some 
time  to  her  accompanying,  as  usual,  her  royal 
consort  in  all  his  expeditions  by  sea  and  land ; 
but,  as  soon  as  she  was  up  again,  she  followed 
bim  to  new  adventures. 


CHAP.  XXVI. 

New  travels   of  the  czar. 

"'^T^ISIMAR  was  at  this  time  besieged  by  the 
czar's  allies.  This  town,  ivhich  belonged 
of  right  to  the  duke  of  Mecklenburg,  is  situated 
on  the  Baltic,  about  seven  leagues  distant  from 
Lubec,  and  might  have  rivalled  that  city  in  its 
extensive  trade,  being  once  one  of  the  most  con- 
siderable of  the  Hans  Towns,  and  the  duke  of 
Mecklenburg  exercised  therein  a  full  power  of 

•  Inhnbitantsnf  a  fiuiall  town  oflluncrarian  Dalmatia« 
with  a  harbour,  from  wlience  llio  neighbouring  sea  take^ 
the  name  of  Golfo  di  Hickanna. 


969  HISTORY  OF 

protection,  rather  than  of  sovereignty.  This  was 
one  of  the  German  territories  yet  remaining  to 
the  Swedes,  in  virtue  of  the  peace  of  Westphalia : 
but  it  was  now  obliged  to  share  the  same  fate 
with  Stralsund.  The  allies  of  the  czar  pushed 
the  siege  with  the  greatest  vigour,  in  order  to 
make  themselves  masters  of  it  before  that  prince's 
troops  should  arrive  ;  but  Peter  himself  coming 
before  the  place  in  person,  after  the  capitulation. 
(Feb.  1716,)  which  had  been  made  without  his 
privacy,  made  the  garrison  prisoners  of  war.  He 
was  not  a  little  incensed,  that  his  allies  should 
have  left  the  king  of  Denmark  in  possession  of  a 
town  which  was  the  right  of  a  prince,  who  had 
married  his  niece ;  and  his  resentment  on  this 
occasion  (which  that  artful  minister,  de  Gortz, 
soon  after  turned  to  his  own  advantage)  laid  the 
first  foundation  of  the  peace,  which  he  meditated 
to  bring  about  between  the  czar  and  Charles  XII. 

Gortz  took  the  first  opportunity  to  insinuate 
to  the  czar,  that  Sweden  was  sutiiciently  humbled, 
and  that  he  should  be  careful  not  to  suffer  Den- 
mark and  Prussia  to  become  too  powerful.  The 
czar  joined  in  opinion  with  him,  and  as  he  had 
entered  into  the  war,  merely  from  motives  of 
policy,  whilst  Charles  carried  it  on  wholly  on  the 
principles  of  a  warrior  ;  he,  from  that  instant, 
slackened  in  his  operations  against  the  Swedes, 
and  Charles,  every  where  unfortunate  in  Ger- 
many, determined  to  risk  one  of  those  desperate 
gtrokes  which  success  only  can  justify,  and  car- 
ried the  war  into  Norway. 

In  the  meantime,  Peter  was  desirous  to  make 
a  second  tour  through  Europe.  He  had  under- 
taken his  first,  as  a  person  who  travelled  for  in- 
struction in  the  arts  and  sciences  :  but  this  second 
he  made  as  a  prince,  who  wanted  to  dive  into  the 
secrets  of  the  several  courts.  He  took  the  czarina 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  2G3 

with  him  to  CopenLigen,  Lubec,  Schwerin,  and 
Nystadt.  He  had  an  interview  with  the  kin.;  of 
Prussia  at  the  little  town  of  Aversborg,  from 
thence  he  and  the  empress  went  to  Hamburg,  arid 
to  Altena,  which  had  been  burned  by  the  Swedes. 
and  which  they  caused  to  be  rebuilt.  Descend- 
ing the  Elbe  as  far  as  ^tade,  they  passed  throuj^h 
Bremen,  where  the  magistrates  prepared  a  firt- 
work  and  illuminations  for  them,  which  formed, 
in  a  hundred  diflfc>reat  places,  these  words — '  Our 
deliverer  is  come  amongst  us.'  At  length  he  ar- 
rived once  more  at  Amsterdam,  (Dec.  17,  1716,) 
and  visited  the  little  hut  at  Saardam,  where  he 
had  first  learned  the  art  of  ship-building,  about 
eighteen  years  before,  and  found  his  old  dwelling 
converted  into  a  handsome  and  commodious 
house,  which  is  still  to  be  seen,  and  goes  by  the 
name  of  the  Prince's  House. 

It  may  easily  be  conceived,  with  what  a  kind 
of  idolatry  he  was  received  by  a  trading  and  sea- 
faring set  of  people,  whose  companion  he  had 
heretofore  been,  and  who  thought  they  saw  in  the 
conqueror  of  Pultowa,  a  pupil  who  had  learned 
from  them  to  gain  naval  victories  ;  and  had,  after 
their  example,  established  trade  and  navigation 
in  his  own  dominions.  In  a  word,  they  looked 
upon  him  as  a  fellow-citizen,  who  had  been 
raised  to  the  imperial  dignity. 

The  life,  the  travels,  the  actions  of  Peter  the 
Great,  as  well  as  of  his  rival,  Charles  of  Sweden, 
exhibit  a  surprising  contrast  to  the  manners  which 
prevail  amongst  us,  and  which  are,  perhaps, 
rather  too  delicate  ;  and  this  may  be  one  reason, 
that  the  history  of  these  two  famous  men  so  much 
excites  our  curiosity. 

The  czarina  had  been  left  behind  at  Schwerin 
indisposed,  being  greatly  advanced  in  hei  preg- 
nancy ;  nevertheless,  as  soon  as  she  was  able  to 


264  HISTORY  OF 

travel,  she  set  out  to  join  the  czar  in  Holland., 
but  -was  taken  in  labour  at  Wesel,  and  there  de- 
livered of  a  prince,  (Jan.  14,  1717.)  who  lived 
but  one  day.  It  is  not  customary  \\-ith  us  for  a 
lying-in-woman  to  stir  abroad  for  some  time  ; 
but  the  czarina  s^t  out,  and  arrived  at  Amsterdam 
in  ten  days  after  her  labour.  She  was  very  de- 
sirous to  see  the  little  cabin  her  husband  Lad 
lived  and  worked  in.  Accordingly,  she  and  the 
czar  went  together,  without  any  state  or  attend- 
ance, excepting  only  two  servants,  and  dined  at 
the  house  of  a  rich  shipbuilder  of  Saardam,  whose 
name  was  Kalf,  and  who  was  one  of  the  first  who 
had  traded  to  Petersburg.  His  son  had  lately 
arrived  from  France,  whither  Peter  was  going. 
The  czar  and  czarina  took  great  pleasure  in  hear- 
ing an  adventure  of  this  young  man,  which  1 
should  not  mention  here,  only  as  it  may  serve  to 
shew  the  great  difference  between  the  manners 
of  that  country  and  ours. 

Old  Kalf,  who  had  sent  this  son  of  his  to  Paris, 
to  learn  the  French  tongue,  was  desirous  that  he 
should  live  in  a  genteel  manner  during  his  stay 
there  ;  and  accordingly  had  ordered  him  to  lay 
aside  the  plain  garb  which  the  inhabitants  of 
Saardam  are  in  general  accustomed  to  wear,  and 
to  provide  himself  with  fashionable  clothes  at 
Paris,  and  to  live,  in  a  manner,  rather  suitable 
to  his  fortune  than  his  education  ;  being  safl5- 
ciently  well  acquainted  with  his  son's  disposition 
to  know,  that  this  indulgence  would  have  no  bad 
effect  on  his  natural  frugality  and  sobriety. 

As  a  calf  is  in  the  French  language  called 
veau,  our  young  traveller,  when  he  arrived  at 
Paris,  took  the  name  of  De  Veau.  He  lived  iu 
a  splendid  manner,  spent  his  money  freely,  and 
made  several  genteel  connexions.  Nothing  is 
more  common  at  Paris,  than  to  bestow,  without 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  265 

reserve,  the  title  of  count  and  marquis,  whether 
a  person  has  any  claim  to  it  or  not,  or  even  if  he 
is  barely  a  gentleman.  This  absurd  practice  has 
been  allowed  by  the  government,  in  order  that, 
by  thus  confounding  all  ranks,  and  consequently 
humbling  the  nobility,  there  might  be  less  danger 
of  civil  wars,  which,  in  former  times,  were  so 
frequent  and  destructive  to  the  peace  of  the  state. 
In  a  word,  the  title  of  marquis  and  count,  with 
possessions  equivalent  to  that  dignity,  are  like 
those  of  knight,  without  being  of  any  order  ;  or 
abb6,  without  any  church  preferment ;  of  no  con- 
sequence, and  not  looked  upon  by  the  sensible 
part  of  the  nation. 

Young  Mr.  Kalf  was  always  called  the  count 
de  Veau  by  his  acquaintance  and  his  own  ser- 
vants :  he  frequently  made  one  in  the  parties  of 
the  princesses ;  he  played  at  the  duchess  of 
Berri's,  and  few  strangers  were  treated  with 
greater  marks  of  distinction,  or  had  more  general 
invitations  among  polite  company.  A  young 
nobleman,  who  had  been  always  one  of  his  com- 
panions in  these  parties,  promised  to  pay  him  a 
visit  at  Saardam,  and  was  as  good  as  his  word  : 
when  he  arrived  at  the  village,  he  inquired  for 
the  house  of  count  Kalf;  when,  being  shewn  into 
a  carpenter's  work-shop,  he  there  saw  his  former 
gay  companion,  the  young  count,  dressed  in  a 
jacket  and  trowsers,  after  the  Dutch  fashion, 
with  an  axe  in  his  hand,  at  the  head  of  his  father's 
workmen.  Here  he  was  received  by  his  friend, 
in  that  plain  manner  to  which  he  had  been  ac- 
customed from  his  birth,  and  from  which  he  never 
deviated.  The  sensible  reader  will  forgive  this 
little  digression,  as  it  is  a  satire  on  vanity,  and  a 
jianegyric  on  true  manners. 

The  czar  continued  three  months  in  Holland, 
during  which  he  passed  his  time  in  matters  of  a 
M 


26&  HISTORY  OF 

more  serious  nature  than  the  adventure  just  re- 
lated. Since  the  treaties  of  Nimeguen,  Ryswic 
and  Utrecht,  the  Hague  had  preserved  the  repu- 
tation of  being  the  centre  of  negotiations  in  Eu- 
rope. This  little  city,  or  rather  village,  the  most 
pleasant  of  any  in  the  North,  is  chiefly  inhabited 
by  foreign  ministers,  and  by  travellers,  who  corae 
for  instruction  to  this  great  school.  They  were, 
at  that  time,  laying  the  foundation  of  a  great  re- 
volution in  Europe.  The  czar,  having  gotten 
^intelligence  of  the  approaching  storm,  prolonged 
his  stay  in  the  Low  Countries,  that  he  might  be 
nearer  at  hand,  to  observe  the  machinations  going 
forward,  both  in  the  North  and  South,  and  pre- 
pare himself  for  the  part  which  it  might  be  ne- 
cessary for  him  to  act  therein. 


CHAP.  XXVII. 

Continuation  of  the  Travels  of  Peter  the  Great. — Con- 
spiracy of  baron  Gortz. — Reception  of  the  czar  in 
France. 

XJE  plainly  saw  that  his  allies  were  jealous  of 
his  power,  and  found  that  there  is  often  more 
trouble  with  friends  than  with  enemies. 

Mecklenburg  was  one  of  the  principal  subjects 
of  those  divisions,  which  almost  always  subsist 
between  neighbouring  princes,  who  share  in  con- 
quests. Peter  was  not  willing  that  the  Danes 
should  take  possession  of  Wismar  for  themselves, 
and  still  less  that  they  should  demolish  the  for- 
tifications, and  yet  they  did  both  the  one  and  the 
other. 

He  openly  protected  the  duke  of  Mecklenburg, 
who  had  married  his  niece,  and  whom  he  re- 
garded like  a  son-in-law,  against  the  nobility  of 
the  country,  and  the  king  of  England  as  openly 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  267 

protected  these  latter.  On  the  other  hand,  he 
was  greatly  discontented  with  the  king  of  Poland, 
or  rather  with  his  minister,  count  Flemming,  who 
wanted  to  throw  off  that  dependance  on  the  czar, 
which  necessity  and  gratitude  had  imposed. 

The  courts  of  England,  Poland,  Denmark, 
Holstein,  Mecklenburg,  and  Brandenburg,  were 
severally  agitated  with  intrigues  and  cabals. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  year  1716,  and  begin- 
ning of  1717,  Gortz,  who,  as  Bassewitz  tells  us 
in  his  Memoirs,  was  weary  of  having  only  the 
title  of  counsellor  of  Holstein,  and  being  only 
private  plenipotentiary  to  Charles  XII.  was  the 
chief  promoter  of  these  intrigues,  with  which  he 
intended  to  disturb  the  peace  of  all  Europe.  His 
design  was  to  bring  Charles  XII.  and  the  czar 
together,  not  only  with  a  view  to  finish  the  war 
between  them,  but  to  unite  them  in  friendship, 
to  replace  Stanislaus  on  the  crown  of  Poland, 
and  to  wrest  Bremen  and  Verden  out  of  the 
hands  of  George  I.,  king  of  England,  and  even 
to  drive  that  prince  from  the  English  throne,  in 
order  to  put  it  out  of  his  power  to  appropriate  to 
himself  any  part  of  the  spoils  of  Charles  XII. 

There  was  at  the  same  time  a  minister  of  his 
own  character,  who  had  formed  a  design  to  over- 
^vrn  the  two  kingdoms  of  England  and  France  : 
this  was  cardinal  Alberoni,  who  had  more  power 
at  that  time  in  Spain,  (ban  Gortz  had  in  Swe- 
den, and  was  of  as  bold  and  enterprising  a  spirit 
as  himself,  but  much  more  powerful,  as  being  at 
the  head  of  affairs  in  a  kingdom  infinitely  more 
rich,  and  never  paid  his  creatures  and  deuendants 
in  copper  money. 

Gortz,  from  the  borders  of  the  Baltic  Sea, 
poon  formed  a  connexion  with  Alberoni  in  Spain. 
The  cardinal  and  he  both  held  a  correspondence 
with  ail  the  wandering  English  who  were  in  the 


£66  HISTORY  OF 

interest  of  the  house  of  Stuart.  Gortz  made 
visits  to  every  place  where  he  thought  he  was 
likely  to  find  any  enemies  of  king  George,  and 
went  successively  to  Germany,  Holland,  Flan- 
ders, and  Lorrain,  and  at  length  came  to  Paris, 
about  the  end  of  the  year  1716.  Cardinal  Albe- 
roni  began,  by  remitting  to  him  in  Paris  a  mil- 
lion of  French  livres,  in  ord^er  (tc  use  the  cardi- 
nal's expression)  to  set  fire  to  the  train. 

Gortz  proposed,  that  Charles  XII.  should 
yield  up  several  pla:^es  to  the  czar,  in  order  to 
be  in  a  condition  to  recover  all  the  others  from 
his  enemies,  and  that  he  might  be  at  liberty  to 
make  a  descent  in  Scotland,  while  the  partisans 
of  the  Stuart  family  should  make  an  effectual 
rising  in  England :  after  their  form^  r  vain  at- 
tempts to  effect  these  views,  it  was  necessary  to 
deprive  the  king  of  England  of  his  chief  sup- 
port, which  at  that  time  was  the  regent  of  France. 
It  was  certainly  very  extraordinary,  to  see 
France  in  league  with  England,  against  the 
grandson  of  Lewis  XIV.,  whom  she  herself  had 
placed  on  the  throne  of  Spain,  at  the  expence  of 
her  blood  and  treasure,  notwithstanding  the 
strong  confederacy  formed  to  oppose  him ;  but 
it  must  be  considered,  that  every  thing  was  now 
out  of  its  natural  order,  and  the  interests  of  the 
regent  not  those  of  the  kingdom.  Alberoni,  at 
that  time,  was  carrying  on  a  confederacy  in 
France   against   this    very   regent.*      And   the 

•  The  conspiracy  carried  on  in  France  by  cardinal 
Alberoni,  was  discovered  in  a  xery  singular  manner. 
The  Spanish  ambassador's  secretary,  who  used  frequently 
to  go  to  the  house  of  one  La  FoUon,  a  famous  procures* 
of  Paris,  to  amuse  himself  for  an  hour  or  two  after  the 
fatigues  of  business,  had  appointed  a  youug  nymph, 
whom  be  was  fond  of,  to  meet  him  there  at  nme  o'clock 
in  the  evening-,  but  did  no:  come  to   her  till  near  twe 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  269 

foundations  of  this  grand  project  were  laid  al- 
most as  soon  as  the  plan  itself  had  been  formed. 
Gortz  was  the  first  who  was  let  into  the  secret, 
and  was  to  have  made  a  journey  into  Italy  in 
disguise,  to  hold  a  conference  with  the  pretender, 

o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  lady,  as  may  be  supposed, 
reproached  liim  with  the  little  regard  he  paid  to  her 
charms,  or  his  own  promise  ;  bat  he  excused  himself,  by 
Baying,  that  he  had  been  obliged  to  stay  to  finish  a  long 
dispatch  in  ciphers,  which  was  to  be  sent  away  that  very 
night  by  a  courier  to  Spain  :  so  saying,  he  undressed 
and  threw  himself  into  bed,  where  he  quietly  fell  asleep. 
In  pulling  oflfhis  clothes,  he  had,  by  accident,  dropped  a 
paper  out  of  his  pocket,  which,  by  its  bulk,  raised  in  the 
nymph  that  curiosity  so  natural  to  her  sex.  She  picked 
it  up,  and  read  it  partly  over,  when  the  nature  of  its  con- 
tents made  her  resolve  to  communicate  them  to  La  Fol- 
lon  :  accordingly,  she  framed  some  excuse  for  leaving  the 
room,  and  immediately  went  to  the  apartment  of  the  old 
lady,  and  opened  her  budget.  La  Follon,  who  was  a 
woman  of  superior  understanding  to  most  in  her  sphere, 
immediately  saw  the  whole  consequence  of  the  afifair ;  and, 
after  having  recommended  to  the  girl,  to  amuse  her  gal- 
lant as  long  as  possible,  she  immediately  went  to  waken 
the  regent,  to  whom  she  had  access  at  all  hours,  for  mat- 
ters of  a  very  different  nature  to  the  present.  This  prince, 
whose  presence  of  mind  was  equal  to  every  exigency,  im- 
mediately dispatched  different  couriers  to  the  frontiers ;  in 
consequence  of  which,  the  Spanish  ambassador's  mes- 
senger was  stopped  at  Bayonne,  and  his  dispatches  taken 
from  him  ;  upon  deciphering  of  which,  the^'  were  found 
exactly  to  agree  with  the  original  delivered  to  the  regent 
by  La  Follon  ;  upon  this  the  prince  of  Cellamar,  the  Spa- 
nish ambassador  was  put  under  an  arrest,  and  all  his  papers 
seized  ;  after  which  be  was  sent  under  a  strong  guard  to 
the  frontiers,  where  they  left  him  to  make  the  best  of  hU 
way  to  his  own  country.  Thirs  an  event,  which  would  haye 
brought  the  kingdom  of  France  to  the  verge  of  destruction, 
was  frustrated  by  a  TOtary  of  V^enus,  and  a  prieAUeaa  of  the 
temple  of  pleasure. 


870  HISTORY  OF 

in  the  neighbourhood  of  Rome  ;  froa-  thence  he 
was  to  have  hastened  to  the  Hague,  to  have  an 
interview  with  the  czar,  and  then  lo  have  settled 
every  thing  with  the  king  of  Sweden. 

The  author  of  this  History  is  particularly  well 
informed  of  every  circumstance  here  advanced, 
for  baron  Gortz  proposed  to  him  to  accompany 
him  in  these  journies  ;  and,  notwithstanding  he 
was  very  voung  at  that  time,  he  was  one  of  the 
first  witnesses  to  a  great  part  of  these  intrigues. 

Gort2  returned  from  Holland  in  the  latter 
part  of  1716,  furnished  with  bills  of  exchange 
from  cardinal  Alberoni,  and  letters  plenipoten- 
tiary from  Charles  XII.  It  is  incontestable  that 
the  Jacobite  party  were  to  have  made  a  rising  in 
England,  while  Charles,  in  his  return  from  Nor- 
way, was  to  make  a  descent  in  the  north  of 
Scotland.  This  prince,  who  had  not  been  able 
to  preserve  his  own  dominions  on  the  continent, 
was  now  going  to  invade  and  overrun  those  of  big 
neighbours,  and  just  escaped  from  his  prison  in 
Turkey,  and  from  amidst  the  ruins  of  his  own 
city  of  Stralsund,  Europe  might  have  beheld 
him  placing  the  crown  of  Great  Br  tain  on  the 
head  of  James  II.  in  London,  as  he  had  before 
done  that  of  Poland  on  Stanislaus  at  Warsaw. 

The  czar,  who  was  acquainted  with  a  part  of 
Gortz's  projects,  waited  for  the  unfolding  of  the 
rest,  without  entering  into  any  of  his  plans,  or 
indeed  knowing  them  all.  He  was  as  fond  of 
great  and  extraordinary  enterprises  as  Charles 
XII.  Gortz,  or  Alberoni ;  but  then  it  was  as  the 
founder  of  a  state,  a  lawgiver,  and  a  sound  poli- 
tician ;  and  perhaps  Alberoni,  Gortz,  and  even 
Charles  himself,  were  rather  men  of  restless 
souls,  who  sought  after  great  adventures,  tban 
persons  of  solid  understanding,  who  took  their 
measures  with   a  just  precaution  ;  or  perhajos. 


PETER  TF^E  GREAT.  271 

after  all,  their  ill  successes  may  have  subjected 
them  to  the  charge  of  rashness  and  impradence. 

During  Gortz's  stay  at  the  Hague,  the  czar  did 
not  see  him,  as  it  would  have  given  too  much 
umbrage  to  his  friends  the  stales -general,  who 
were  in  close  alliance  with,  and  attached  to,  the 
party  of  che  king  of  England  ;  and  even  his  mi- 
nisters visited  him  only  in  ])rivate,  and  with 
great  precaution,  having  orders  from  their  master 
to  hear  all  he  had  to  offer,  and  to  flatter  him 
with  hopes,  without  entering  into  any  engage- 
ment, or  making  use  of  his  (the  czar's)  name  in 
their  conferences.  But,  notwithstanding  all  these 
precautions,  those  who  understood  the  nature  of 
affairs,  plainly  saw  by  his  inactivity,  when  he 
might  have  made  a  descent  upon  Scania  with  the 
joint  fleets  of  Russia  and  Denmark,  by  his  visible 
coolness  towards  his  allies,  and  the  little  regard 
he  paid  to  their  complaints,  and  lastly,  by  thi? 
journey  of  his,  that  there  was  a  great  change 
in  affairs,  which  would  very  soon  manifest  itself. 

In  the  month  , of  January,  1717,  a  Swedish 
packet-boat,  which  was  carrying  letters  over  to 
Holland,  being  forced  by  a  storm  upon  the  coast 
of  Norway,  put  into  harbour  there.  The  letters 
were  seized,  and  those  of  baron  de  Gortz  and 
some  other  public  ministers  being  ojjened,  fur- 
nished sufficient  evidence  of  the  projected  revo- 
lution. The  court  of  Denmark  communicated 
these  letters  to  the  English  ministry,  who  gave 
orders  for  arresting  the  Swedish  minister,  Gillem- 
bourg,  then  at  the  court  of  Loudon,  and  seizing 
his  papers ;  upon  examining  which  they  disco- 
vered part  of  his  correspondence  with  the  Ja- 
cobites. 

Feb.  1717.]  King  George  immediately  wrote 
to  the  states-general,  requiring  them  to  cause  tlie 
person  of  baron  Oortz  to  be  arrested,  agreeable 


«7«  HISTORY  OF 

to  the  treaty  of  union  subsisting  between  Eng- 
land and  that  republic  for  their  mutual  security. 
But  this  minister,  who  had  his  cieatures  and 
emissaries  in  every  part,  was  quickly  informed 
of  this  order;  upon  which  he  instantlv  quitted 
the  Hague,  and  was  got  as  far  as  Arnheim,  a 
town  on  the  frontiers,  when  the  officers  and 
guards,  who  were  in  pursuit  of  him,  and  who 
are  seldom  accustomed  to  use  such  diligence  in 
that  country,  came  up  with  and  took  him,  toge- 
tiier  with  all  his  papers:  he  was  strictly  confined 
and  severely  treated  ;  the  secretary  Stank,  the 
person  who  had  counterfeited  the  sign  manual  of 
the  young  duke  of  Holstein_,  in  the  affair  of 
Toningen,  experienced  still  harsher  usage.  In 
fine,  the  count  of  Gillembourg,  the  Swedish  envoy 
to  the  court  of  Great  Britain,  and  the  baron  de 
Gortz,  minister  plenipotentiary  from  Charles 
XII.  were  examined  like  criminals,  the  one  at 
London,  and  the  other  at  Arnheim,  while  all  the 
foreign  ministers  exclaimed  against  this  violation 
of  the  law  of  nations.  • 

This  privilege,  which  is  mucn  more  insisted 
upon  than  understood,  and  whose  limits  and  ex- 
tent have  never  vet  been  fixed,  has,  in  almost 
every  age,  received  violent  attacks.  Several  mi- 
nisters have  been  driven  from  the  courts  where 
they  resided  in  a  public  character,  and  even 
their  persons  have  been  more  than  once  seized 
upon,  but  this  was  the  first  instance  of  foreign 
ministers  being  interrogated  at  the  bar  of  a  court 
of  justice,  as  if  they  were  natives  of  the  country. 
The  court  of  London  and  the  states-general  laid 
aside  all  rules  upon  seeing  the  dangers  which 
menaced  the  house  of  Hanover  ;  but,  in  fact,  this 
danger,  when  once  discovered,  ceased  to  be  any 
longer  danger,  at  least  at  that  juncture. 

The  historian  Xorbergmusi  have  been  Tcry  ill 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  273 

informed,  and  have  had  a  very  indifferent  know- 
ledge of  men  and  things,  or  at  least  have  been 
slrans^ely  blinded  by  partiality,  or  under  severe 
restrictions  from  his  own  court,  to  endeavour  to 
persuade  his  readers,  that  the  king  of  Sweden 
had  not  a  very  great  share  in  this  plot. 

The  affront  offered  to  his  ministers  fixed 
Charles  more  than  ever  in  his  resolution  to  try 
every  means  to  dethrone  the  king  of  England. 
But  here  he  found  it  necessary,  once  in  his  life 
time,  to  make  use  of  dissimulation.  He  dis- 
owned his  ministers  and  their  proceedings,  both 
to  the  regent  of  France  and  the  states  general; 
from  the  former  of  whom  he  expected  a  subsidv, 
and  with  the  latter  it  was  for  his  interest  to  keep 
fair.  He  did  not,  however,  give  the  king  of 
England  so  much  satisfaction,  and  his  ministers, 
Gortz  and  Gillembourg,  were  kept  six  months  in 
confinement,  and  this  repeated  insult  animated 
in  him  the  desire  of  revenge. 

Peter,  in  the  midst  of  all  these  alarms  and  jea- 
lousies, kept  himself  quiet,  waiting  with  patience 
the  event  of  all  from  time  ;  and  having  esta- 
blished such  good  order  throughout  his  vast  do- 
minions, as  that  he  had  nothing  to  foar,  either  at 
home  or  from  abroad,  he  resolved  to  make  a 
journey  to  France.  Unhappily  he  did  not  un- 
derstand the  French  language,  by  which  means 
he  was  deprived  of  the  greatest  advantage  he 
might  have  reaped  from  his  journey  ;  but  ho 
thought  there  might  be  something  there  worthy 
observation,  and  he  had  a  mind  to  be  a  nearer 
witness  of  the  terms  on  which  the  rei;ent  stood 
with  the  king  of  England,  and  wheilier  that  prince 
was  staunch  to  his  alliance. 

Peter  the  Great  was  received  in  France  as 
such  a  monarch  ought  to  be.  .Marshal  Tess^  was 
sent  to  meet  him,  with  a  number  of  the  principal 
M  2 


£74  HISrORY  OF 

Jords  of  the  court,  a  company  of  guards  and  the 
king's  coaches  ;  but  he,  according  to  his  usual 
custom,  travelled  with  such  expedition,  that  he 
•was  at  Gournay  when  the  equipages  arrived  at 
Elbeuf.  Entertainments  were  made  for  him  in 
every  place  on  the  road  where  he  chose  to  par* 
take  of  them.  On  his  arrival  he  was  received  in 
the  Louvre,  where  the  royal  apartments  were 
prepared  for  him,  and  others  for  the  priuces 
Kourakin  and  Dolgorouki,  the  vice-chancellor 
Shaffiroff,  the  ambassador  Tolstoy,  the  same  who 
had  suffered  in  his  person  that  notorious  viola- 
tion of  the  laws  of  nations  in  Turkey,  and  for  the 
rest  of  his  retinue.  Orders  were  given  for  lodg- 
ing and  entertaining  him  in  the  most  splendid 
and  sumptuous  manner :  but  Peter,  who  was 
come  only  to  see  what  might  be  of  use  to  him, 
and  not  to  suflfer  these  ceremonious  triflings, 
w'hichwerea  restraint  upon  his  natural  plainness, 
and  consumed  a  time  that  was  precious  to  him, 
went  the  same  night  to  take  up  his  lodgings  at 
the  other  end  of  the  city  in  the  hotel  of  Les- 
digui^re,  belonging  to  marshal  Villeroi,  where  he 
was  entertained  at  the  king's  expense  in  the 
same  manner  as  he  would  have  been  at  the 
Louvre.  The  next  day  (May  8,  1717.)  the  re- 
gent of  France  went  to  make  him  a  visit  in  the 
before  mentioned  hotel,  and  the  dav  afterwards 
the  young  king,  then  an  infant,  was  sent  to  him 
under  the  care  of  his  governor,  the  marshal  de 
Villeroi,  whose  father  had  been  governor  to 
Lewis  XIV.  On  this  occasion,  they,  by  a  po-' 
lite  artifice,  spared  the  czar  the  troublesome  re- 
.■^traint  of  returning  this  visit  immediately  after 
receiving  it,  by  allowing  an  interview  of  two 
days  for  him  to  receive  the  respects  of  the  several 
corporations  of  the  city  ;  the  second  night  he 
vent  to  visit  the  king:  the  household  were  all 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  275 

nndei  a?ms,  and  they  brought  the  young  king 
quite  '•>  the  door  of  the  czar's  coach.  Peter,  sur- 
prised and  uneasy  at  the  prodigious  concourse 
of  people  assembled  about  the  infant  monarch, 
took  him  in  his  arms,  and  carried  him  in  that 
manner  for  some  time. 

Certain  ministers,  of  more  cunning  than  un- 
derstanding, have  pretended  in  their  writings, 
that  marshal  de  Villeroi  wanted  to  make  the 
young  king  of  France  take  the  upper  hand  on  this 
occasion,  and  that  the  czar  made  use  of  this  stra- 
tagem to  overturn  the  ceremonial  under  the  ap- 
pearance of  good  nature  and  tenderness  ;  but  this 
notion  is  equally  false  and  absurd.  The  natural 
good  breeding  of  the  French  court,  and  the  re- 
spect due  to  the  person  of  Peter  the  Great,  would 
not  permit  a  thought  of  turning  the  honours  in- 
tended him  into  an  aflfront.  The  ceremonial 
consisted  in  doing  every  thing  for  a  great  monarch 
and  a  great  man,  that  he  himself  could  have  de- 
sired, if  he  had  given  any  attention  to  matters  of 
this  kind.  The  journeys  of  the  emperor  Charles 
IV.  Sigismund,  and  Charles  V.  to  France,  were 
by  no  means  comparable,  in  point  of  splendour, 
to  this  of  Peter  the  Great.  They  visited  this  king- 
dom only  from  motives  of  political  interest,  and 
at  a  time  when  the  arts  and  sciences,  as  yet  in 
their  infancy,  could  not  render  the  era  of  their 
journey  so  memorable  :  but  when  Peter  the  Great, 
on  his  going  to  dine  with  the  duke  d'Antin,  in  the 
palace  of  Petitbourg,  about  three  leagues  out  of 
Paris,  saw  his  own  picture,  which  had  been 
drawn  for  the  occasion,  brought  on  a  sudden,  and 
placed  in  a  room  where  he  wa^,  he  then  found 
that  no  people  in  the  world  knew  so  well  how  to 
receive  such  a  guest  as  the  French. 

He  was  still  more  surprised,  when,  on  going 
to  see  them  strike  the  medals  in  tlie  long  gallerj 


276  HISTORY  OF 

ef  the  LouTTe,  where  all  the  king's  artists  are  sc 
handsomely  lodged;  a  medal,  which  they  were 
then  striking,  happening  to  fall  to  the  ground, 
the  czar  stooped  hastily  down  to  take  it  up,  when 
he  beheld  his  own  head  engraved  thereon,  and 
on  the  reverse  a  Fame  standing  with  one  foot  upon 
a  globe,  and  underneath  these  words  from  Virgil 
— •  Vires  acquirit  eundo ;'  an  allusion  equally 
delicate  and  noble,  and  elegantly  adapted  to  his 
travels  and  his  fame.  Several  of  these  medals  in 
gold  were  presented  to  him,  and  to  all  those  who 
attended  him.  Wherever  he  went  to  view  the 
-works  of  any  artists,  they  laid  the  master-pieces 
of  their  performances  at  his  feet,  which  they  be- 
sought him  to  accept.  In  a  word,  when  he  visited 
the  manufactories  of  the  Gobelins,  the  workshop 
of  the  king's  statuaries,  painters,  goldsmiths, 
jewellers,  or  mathematical  instrument-makers, 
■whatever  seemed  to  strike  his  attention  at  any  of 
those  places,  were  always  offered  him  in  the 
king's  name. 

Peter,  who  was  a  mechanic,  an  artist,  and  a 
geometrician,  went  to  visit  the  academy  of 
sciences,  who  received  him  with  an  exhibition  of 
every  thing  they  had  most  valuable  and  curious  ; 
but  they  had  nothing  so  curious  as  himself  He 
corrected,  with  his  own  hand,  several  geographi- 
cal errors  in  the  charts  of  his  own  dominions,  and 
especially  in  those  of  the  Caspian  Sea.  Lastly, 
be  condescended  to  become  one  of  the  members 
of  that  academy,  and  afterw^ards  continued  a 
correspondence  in  experiments  and  discoveries 
■with  those  among  whom  he  had  enrolled  himself 
as  a  simple  brother.  If  we  would  find  examples 
of  such  travellers  as  Peter,  we  must  go  back  to 
the  times  of  a  Pythagoras  and  an  Anacharsis, 
and  even  they  did  not  quit  the  command  of  a 
mighty  empire,  to  go  in  search  of  instruction. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  277 

And  here  we  cannnct  forbear  recalling  to  the 
mind  of  the  reader  the  transport  with  which  Peter 
the  Great  was  seized  on  viewing  the  monument 
of  cardinal  Richelieu.  Regardless  of  the  beauties 
of  the  sculpture,  which  is  a  master-piece  of  its 
kind,  he  only  admired  the  image  of  a  minister 
who  had  rendered  himself  so  famous  throughout 
Europe  by  disturbing  its  peace,  and  restored  tc 
France  that  glory  which  she  had  lost  after  the 
death  of  Henry  IV.  It  is  well  known,  that,  em- 
bracing the  statue  with  rapture,  he  burst  forth 
into  this  exclamation — '  Great  man !  I  would 
have  bestowed  one  half  of  my  empire  on  thee, 
to  have  taught  me  to  govern  the  other.'  And 
now,  before  he  quitted  France,  he  was  desirous 
to  see  the  famous  ra::dame  de  Mainteuon.  whom 
he  knew  to  be,  in  fact,  the  widow  of  Lewis  XIV". 
and  who  was  now  drawing  very  near  her  end ; 
and  his  curiosity  vvas  the  more  excited  by  the 
kind  of  conformity  he  found  between  his  own 
marriage  and  that  of  Lewis  ;  though  witli  this 
difference  between  the  king  of  France  and  him, 
that  he  hud  nublickly  married  an  heroine,  whereas 
Lewis  X1V\  had  only  privately  enjoyed  an  ami- 
able wife. 

The  czarina  did  not  accompany  her  husband 
in  this  journey  :  he  was  apprehensive  that  the 
excess  of  ceremony  would  be  troublesome  to  her, 
as  well  as  the  curio.sity  of  a  court  little  capable 
of  distinguishing  the  true  merit  of  a  woman,  who 
had  braved  death  by  the  side  of  her  husband  both 
by  sea  and  land,  from  the  banks  of  the  Prutb  to 
the  coast  of  Finland. 


«78  HISTORY  OF 


CHAP.    XXVIII. 

Of  the  retam  of  the  czar  to  his  dominions. — Of  hit 
politics  and  occupations. 

^FHE  behaviour  of  the  Sorbonne  to  Peter,  when 
he  went  to  visit  the  mausoleum  of  cardinal 
Richelieu,  deserves  to  be  treated  of  by  itself. 

Some  doctors  of  this  university  were  desirous 
to  have  the  honour  of  brin-^ing  about  a  union  be- 
tween the  Greek  and  Latin  churches.  Those 
who  are  acquainted  with  antiquity  need  not  be 
told,  that  the  Christian  religion  was  first  intro- 
duced into  the  west  by  the  Asiatic  Greeks  :  that 
it  was  bom  in  the  east,  and  that  the  first  fathers, 
tlie  tirst  councils,  the  first  liturgies,  and  the  first 
rites,  were  all  from  the  east ;  that  there  is  not  a 
single  title  or  oflice  in  the  hierarchy,  but  was  in 
Greek,  and  thereby  plainly  shews  the  same  from 
whence  they  zxe  all  derived  to  us.  Upon  the 
division  of  the  Roman  empire,  it  was  next  to  im- 
possible, but  that  sooner  or  later  there  must  be 
two  religious  as  well  as  two  empires,  and  that 
the  same  schism  should  arise  between  the  eastern 
and  western  Christians,  as  between  the  followers 
of  Osman  and  the  Persians. 

It  is  this  schism  which  certain  doctors  of  the 
Sorbonne  thought  to  crush  all  at  once  by  means 
of  a  memorial  which  they  presented  to  Peter  the 
Great,  and  effect  what  Pope  Leo  XL  and  his 
successors  had  in  vain  laboured  for  many  ages  to 
bring  about,  by  legates,  coimcils,  and  even  money. 
These  doctors  should  have  known,  that  Peter  the 
Great,  who  was  the  head  of  the  Russian  church, 
was  not  likely  to  acknowledge  the  pope's  autho- 
rity. They  expatiated  in  thei;-  memorial  on  the 
liberties  of  the  Galilean  church,  which  the  czar 
gave  himself  no  corcern  about.     J'hey  asserted 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  279 

that  the  popes  ought  to  be  subject  to  the  councils, 
and  that  a  papal  decree  is  not  an  article  of  faith  : 
but  their  representations  were  in  vain  ;  all  they 
got  by  their  pains,  was  to  make  the  pope  their 
enemy  by  such  free  declarations,  at  the  same 
time  that  they  pleased  neither  the  czar  nor  the 
Russian  church. 

There  were,  in  this  plan  of  union,  certain  poli- 
tical views,  which  the  good  fathers  did  not  under- 
stand, and  some  points  of  controversy  which 
they  pretended  to  understand,  and  which  each 
party  explained  as  they  thought  proper.  It  wao 
concerning  the  MolyGhost,  which,  according  to  the 
Latin  church,  proceeds  from  the  Father  and  Son, 
and  which,  at  present,  according  to  the  Greeks, 
proceeds  from  the  Father  through  the  Son,  after 
Laving,  for  a  considerable  time,  proceeded  from 
the  Father  only  :  on  this  occasion  ihey  quoted  a 
passage  in  St.  Epiphanius,  where  it  is  said,  '  That 
the  Holy  Ghost  is  neither  brother  to  the  .">on,  nor 
grandson  to  the  Father.' 

But  Peter,  when  he  left  Paris,  had  other  busi- 
ness to  mind,  than  that  of  clearing  up  passatjes  m 
St.  Epiphanius.  Nevertheless,  he  received  the 
memorial  of  the  Sorbonne  with  his  accustomed 
affability.  That  learned  body  wrote  to  some  of 
the  Russian  bishops,  who  returned  a  polite  an- 
swer, though  the  majorpartof  them  were  offended 
at  the  proposed  union.  It  was  in  order  to  remove 
any  apprehensions  of  such  a  union,  that  Peter, 
some  time  afterwards,  namely,  in  17  lo,  when  he 
had  driven  the  Jesuits  out  of  his  dominions,  in- 
stituted the  ceremony  of  a  burlesque  conclave. 

He  had  at  his  court  an  old  fool,  named  Jotof, 
who  had  learned  him  to  write,  and  who  thought 
he  had,  by  that  trivial  service,  merited  the  highest 
honours  and  most  important  posts  :  I'eter,  who 
aometimes  softeneil  the  toihi  of  government,  by 


280  HISTORY  OF 

indulging  bis  people  in  amusements,  which  befit- 
ted a  nation  as  yet  not  entirely  reformed  by  his 
labours,  promised  his  -wiiting-^naster,  to  bestow 
on  him  one  of  the  highest  dignities  in  the  world  ; 
accordingly,  he  appointed  him  knez  papa,  or 
supreme  pontiff,  with  an  appointment  of  two 
thousand  crowns,  and  assigned  him  a  house  to 
live  in,  in  the  Tartarian  quarter  at  Petersburg. 
He  was  installed  by  a  number  of  buffoons,  with 
great  ceremony,  and  four  fellows  who  stammered 
were  appointed  to  harangue  him  on  the  acces- 
sion. He  created  a  number  of  cardinals,  and 
marched  in  procession  at  their  head,  and  the 
whole  sacred  college  was  made  drunk  with  brandy. 
After  the  death  of  this  Jotof,  an  ofl5cer,  named 
Buturlin,  was  made  Pope  :  this  ceremony  has 
been  thrice  renewed  at  Moscow  and  Petersburg, 
the  ridiculousness  of  which,  though  it  appeared  of 
no  moment,  yet  has  by  its  ridiculousness  confirm- 
ed the  people  in  their  aversion  to  a  church,  which 
pretended  to  the  supreme  power,  and  whose  church 
had  anathematized  so  many  crowned  heads.  In 
this  manner  did  the  czar  revenge  the  cause  of 
twenty  emperors  of  Germany,  ten  kings  of  France, 
and  a  number  of  other  sovereigns  j  and  this  was 
all  the  advantage  the  Sorbonne  gained  from  its 
impolitic  attempt  to  unite  the  Latia  and  Greek 
churches.  » 

The  czar's  journey  to  France  proved  of  more 
utility  to  his  kingdom,  by  bringing  about  a  con- 
nexion with  a  trading  and  industrious  people, 
than  could  have  arisen  from  the  projected  union 
between  two  rival  churches  ,  one  of  which  will 
always  maintain  its  ancient  independence,  and 
the  other  its  new  superiority. 

Peter  carried  several  artificers  with  him  out  of 
France,  in  the  same  manner  as  he  had  done  out 
of  Elns^land  i  for  every  nation,,  which  he  visited 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  §81 

thought  it  an  honour  to  assist  him  in  hi?  (ie&ign 
of  introducing  the  arts  and  sciences  into  his  new- 
formed  state,  and  to  be  instrumental  in  this 
species  of  new  creation. 

In  this  expedition,  he  drew  up  a  sketch  of  a 
treaty  of  commerce  with  France,  and  which  he 
put  into  the  hands  of  his  ministers  at  Holland,  as 
soon  as  he  returned  thither,  but  it  was  not  signed 
by  the  Frencli  ambassador,  Chateauneuf,  till  the 
l^th  August,  1717,  at  the  Hague.  'I'his  treaty 
not  only  related  to  trade,  but  likewise  to  bringing 
about  peace  in  the  North.  The  king  of  France 
and  the  elector  of  Brandenburg  accepted  of  the 
office  of  mediators,  which  Peter  offered  them. 
This  was  sufficient  to  give  the  king  of  England 
to  understand,  that  the  czar  was  not  well  pleased 
with  liim,  and  crowned  the  hopes  of  baron  Gortz, 
who  from  that  time,  left  nothing  undone  to  bring 
about  a  union  between  Charles  and  Peter,  to 
stir  up  new  enemies  a^^ainst  George  I.  and  to 
assist  cardinal  Alberoni  in  his  schemes  in  every 
part  of  Europe.  Gortz  now  paid  and  received 
visits  publicly  from  the  czar's  ministers  at  the 
Hague,  to  whom  he  declared,  that  he  was  in- 
vested with  full  power  from  the  court  of  Sweden 
to  conclude  a  peace. 

The  czar  suffered  Gortz  to  dispose  all  his  bat- 
teries, without  assisting  therein  himself,  and  was 
prepared  either  to  make  peace  with  the  kmg  of 
Sweden,  or  to  carry  on  the  war,  and  continued 
still  in  alliance  with  the  kings  of  Denmark,  Po- 
land, and  Kussia,  and  in  appearance  with  the 
elector  of  Hanover. 

It  was  evident,  that  he  had  no  fixed  design, 
but  that  of  profiting  of  conjunctures  and  circum- 
stances, and  that  his  main  object  was  to  complete 
the  general  establishments  he  had  set  on  foot. 
He  well  knew,  that  the  negotiations  and  intereeta 


S83  HISTORY  OF 

of  princes,  their  leagues,  their  friendships,  theix 
jeaJousies,  and  their  enmities,  were  subject  to 
change  with  each  revolving  year,  and  that  fre- 
quently not  the  smallest  traces  remain  of  the 
greatest  efforts  in  politics.  A  simple  manufac- 
tory, well  established,  is  often  of  more  reai  ad- 
vantage to  a  state  than  twenty  treaties. 

Peter  having  joined  the  czarina,  who  was 
waiting  for  him  in  Holland,  continued  his  travels 
with  her.  They  crossed  Westphalia,  and  anived 
at  Berlin  in  a  private  manner.  The  new  kin^  of 
Prussia  was  as  much  an  enemy  to  ceremonious 
vanities,  and  the  pomp  of  a  court,  as  Peter  him- 
self;  and  it  was  an  instructive  lesson  to  the  eti- 
quette of  Vienna  and  Spain»  the  punctilio  of  Itaiy, 
and  the  politesse  of  the  French  court,  to  see  a 
king,  who  only  made  use  of  a  wooden  elbow- 
chair,  who  went  always  in  the  dress  of  a  com- 
mon soldier,  and  who  had  banished  from  bis 
table,  not  only  all  the  luxuries,  but  even  the  more 
moderate  indulgences  of  life. 

The  czar  and  czarina  observed  the  same  plain 
manner  of  living  ;  and  had  Charles  been  with 
them,  the  world  might  have  beheld  four  crowned 
heads,  with  less  pomp  and  state  about  them  than 
a  German  bishop,  or  a  cardinal  of  Rome.  Never 
were  luxury  and  effeminacy  opposed  by  such 
noble  e.tamples. 

It  cannot  be  denied,  that  if  one  of  our  fellow- 
subjects  had,  from  mere  curiosity,  made  the  fifth 
part  of  the  journeys  that  Peter  I.  did  for  the  good 
of  his  kingdom,  he  would  have  been  considered 
as  an  extraordinary  person,  and  one  who  chal- 
lenged our  consideration.  From  Berlin  he  went 
to  Dantzic,  still  accompanied  by  his  wife,  and 
from  thence  to  Mittau,  where  he  protected  his 
niece,  the  duchess  of  Courland,  lately  become  a 
Madow.     He  visited  all  the  places  he  had  con- 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  283 

quered,  made  several  new  and  useful  regulations 
in  Petersburg ;  he  then  goes  to  Moscow,  where 
he  rebuilds  the  bouses  of  several  persons  that 
had  fallen  to  ruin ;  from  thence  he  transports 
himself  to  Czaritsin,  on  the  river  Wolga,  to  stop 
the  incursions  of  the  Cuban  lartars,  constructs 
lines  of  communication  from  the  Wolga  to  the 
Don,  and  erects  forts  at  certain  distances,  be- 
tween the  two  rivers.  At  the  same  time  he 
caused  the  military  code,  which  he  had  lately 
composed,  to  be  printed,  and  erected  a  court  of 
justice,  to  examine  into  the  conduct  of  his  minis- 
ters, and  to  retrieve  the  disorders  in  his  finances  ; 
he  pardons  several  who  were  found  guilty,  and 
punishes  others.  Among  the  latter  was  the  great 
prince  Menzikoflf  himself,  who  stood  in  need  of 
the  royal  clemency.  But  a  sentence  more  severe, 
which  he  thought  himself  obliged  tc  utter  against 
Lis  own  son,  filled  with  bitlernes*"  those  days, 
which  were,  in  other  respects,  covered  with  so 
much  glory. 


CHAP.  XXIX. 

ProceedingB  against  prince  Alexis  Petrowitz. 

DETER  the  Great,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  haa 
married,  in  the  year  1689,  Eudocia  Theodora, 
or  Theodorouna  Lapoukin.  Bred  up  in  the  pre- 
judices of  her  country,  and  incapable  of  sur- 
mounting them  like  her  husband,  the  greatest 
opposition  he  met  with  in  erecting  his  empire, 
and  forming  his  people,  came  from  her  :  she  was, 
as  is  too  common  to  her  sex,  a  slave  to  supersti- 
tion ;  every  new  and  useful  alteration  she  looked 
ttpon  as  a  species  of  sacrilege ;  and  every  foreigner, 
whom  the  war  employed  to  execute  his  great  de- 


284  HISTORY  OF 

signs,  appeared  to  Iier  no  better  than  as  corrop'- 
tors  and  innovators. 

Her  open  and  public  complaints  gave  encon- 
ragemeat  to  the  factious,  andthjse  who  were  the 
advocates  for  ancient  customs  and  manners. 
Her  conduct,  in  other  respects,  by  no  means  made 
amends  for  such  heavy  imperfections.  The  czar 
was  at  length  obliged  to  repudiate  her  in  1696, 
and  shut  her  up  in  a  convent  at  Susdal,  where 
they  obliged  her  to  take  the  veil  under  the  nama 
of  Helena. 

The  son,  whom  he  had  by  her  in  1690,  was 
bom  unhappily  with  the  disposition  of  his  mother, 
and  that  disposition  received  additional  strength 
from  his  very  first  education.  My  memoirs  say, 
that  he  was  encrusted  to  the  care  of  superstitious 
men,  who  ruined  his  understanding  for  ever. 
'Twas  in  vain  that  they  hoped  to  correct  these 
first  impressions,  by  giving  him  foreign  precep- 
tors ;  their  very  quality  of  being  foreigners  dis- 
gusted him.  He  was  not  bom  destitute  of  genius ; 
he  spoke  and  wrote  German  well ;  he  had  a 
tolerable  notion  of  designing,  and  understood 
something  of  mathematics  :  but  these  very  me- 
moirs affirm,  that  the  reading  of  ecclesiastical 
books  was  the  ruin  of  hiin.  The  young  Alexis 
imagined  he  saw  in  these  books  a  condemnation 
of  every  thing  which  his  father  ha  I  done.  There 
were  some  priests  at  the  head  of  the  malcon- 
tents, and  by  the  priests  he  suflfered  himself  to 
be  governed. 

They  persuaded  him  that  the  whole  nation 
looked  with  horror  upon  the  enterprises  of  Peter; 
that  the  frequent  illnesses  of  the  czar  promised 
but  a  short  life  ;  and  that  his  Kon  could  not  hope 
to  please  the  nation,  but  by  testifying  his  aversion 
for  all  changes  of  custom.  These  murmurs,  and 
these  counsels,  did   not  break  out  into  an  open 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  285 

faction  or  conspiracy  ,  but  every  thing  seemed  to 
tend  that  way,  and  the  tempers  of  the  people  were 
inflamed. 

Peter's  marriage  with  Catherine  in  1707,  and 
the  children  which  he  liad  by  her,  began  to  sour 
the  disposition  of  the  young  priiice.  Peter  tried 
every  method  to  rechiim  him  :  he  even  placed 
him  at  the  head  of  the  regency  for  a  year  ;  he 
sent  him  to  truvei  ;  he  married  him  in  1711,  at 
the  end  of  the  campaign  of  Pruth,  to  the  princess 
of  Brunswick.  'Jhis  marriage  was  attended  with 
great  misfortunes.  Alexis,  now-  twenty  years 
old,  gave  himself  up  to  the  debauchery  of  youth, 
and  that  boorishness  of  ancient  manners  he  so 
much  delighted  in.  'J'hese  irregularities  almost 
brutalized  liim.  His  wife,  despised,  ill-treated, 
wanting  even  necessaries,  and  deprived  of  all 
comforts,  languished  away  in  disappointment,  and 
died  at  last  of  grief,  the  first  of  November,  171.T. 

She  left  the  prince  .■Mexis  one  son;  and  ac- 
cording to  the  natural  order,  this  son  was  one 
day  to  become  heir  to  the  empire.  Peter  per- 
ceived with  sorrow,  that  when  he  should  be  no 
more,  all  his  labours  were  likely  to  he  destroyed 
by  those  of  liis  own  blood.  After  the  death  of 
the  princess,  he  wrote  a  letter  lo  his  son,  equally 
tender  and  resolute  :  it  finished  with  these  words : 
'  I  will  still  wait  a  little  time,  to  see  if  you  will 
correct  yourself;  if  not,  know  that  1  will  cut  you 
off  from  the  succession,  as  we  lop  off  a  useless 
member.  Don't  imagine,  that  1  mean  only  to 
intimidate  you  ;  don't  rely  upon  the  title  of  being 
my  only  sou  ;  for  if  I  spare  not  my  own  life  for 
my  country,  and  the  good  of  rny  people,  how  shall 
I  spare  you  1  I  will  rather  choose  to  leave  my 
kingdom  to  a  foreign^-r  who  deserves  it,  than  to 
my  own  son,  who  makes  himself  unworthy  of  it.' 

This  is  the  letter  of  a  father,  but  it  is  still  more 


?86  HISTORY  OF 

ih'  letter  of  a  legislator ;  it  sbews  us,  besides 
that  the  order  of  succession  was  not  invariably 
established  in  Russia;  as  in  other  kingdoms,  by 
those  fundamental  laws  which  take  away  from 
fathers  the  right  of  disinheriting  their  children  ; 
and  the  czar  believed  he  had  an  undoubted  pre- 
rogative to  dispose  of  an  empire  which  he  had 
founded. 

At  this  very  time  the  empress  Catherine  was 
brought  to  bed  of  a  prince,  who  died  afterwards 
in  1719.  Whether  this  news  sunk  the  courage 
of  Alexis,  or  whether  it  was  imprudence  or  bad 
counsel,  he  wrote  to  his  father,  that  he  renounced 
the  crown,  and  all  hopes  of  reigning.  *  I  take 
God  to  witness,'  says  he,  '  and  1  swear  by  my 
soul  that  I  will  never  pretend  to  the  succession. 
I  put  my  children  into  your  hands,  and  I  desire 
only  a  provision  for  life.' 

The  czar  wrote  him  a  second  letter,  as  fol- 
lows :* —  'You  speak  of  the   succession,  as  if  I 

•  As  these  letters  and  answers  afford  the  most  strikinjj 
evidence  of  the  czar'ft  prudence,  and  the  prince's  insin- 
cerity, and  will  convey  to  the  reader  a  clear  idea  of  the 
ground*  and  motives  of  this  extraordinary  transaction, 
we  have  inserted  the  following  translation  of  them.  The 
lirst  letter  from  the  czar  to  his  son,  is  dated  the  £7th  of 
October,  1715,  and  displays  a  noble  spirit  of  religior., 
with  the  most  ardent  desire  of  leaving  a  successor  who 
should  perpetuate  his  nanoe  and  glory  to  future  ages 

'  Son,'  says  the  czar  to  him,  '  you  cannot  be  igaoratit 
of  what  is  known  to  all  the  world,  that  our  people  groaned 
under  the  oppression  of  the  Swedes,  before  the  beginning 
of  this  present  war.  By  the  usurped  possession  of  many 
of  our  maritime  ports,  so  necessary  to  our  state,  they  cut 
us  ofiF  from  ail  commerce  with  the  rest  of  mankind  ;  and 
we  saw,  with  deep  regret,  that  they  had  even  cast  a  mist 
over  the  eyes  of  persons  of  the  greatest  discernment,  who 
tamely  brooked  their  slaverj-,  and  made  no  complainu  to 
«.    You  know  how  much  it  cost  us  at  the  beginning  of 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  287 

fitood  in  need  of  your  consent  in  the  disposal 
thereof.  I  reproached  you  with  the  aversion  you 

this  war,  to  make  ourselves  thoroughly  experienced,  and 
to  stand  onr  ground  in  spite  of  all  the  advantages  which 
oorirreconcileable  enemies  gained  over  us.  The  Almighty 
alone  has  conducted  us  by  his  hand,  and  conducts  us  still. 
We  submitted  to  that  probationary  state  with  resignation 
to  the  will  of  God,  not  doubting  but  it  was  he  who  made 
us  pass  through  it :  he  has  accepted  our  submission ;  and 
the  same  enem^-,  before  whom  we  were  wont  to  tremble, 
LOW  trembles  before  us.  These  are  efiTccts,  which,  under 
Gods's  assistance,  we  owe  to  our  labour,  and  those  of  our 
faithful  and  affectionate  sons,  and  Russian  subjects.  But 
while  I  survey  the  successes  with  which  God  has  blessed 
ourai-ms,  if  I  turn  m3' eyes  on  the  posterity  that  is  to  suc- 
ceed me,  my  soul  is  pierced  with  anguish ;  and  I  have  no  en- 
joyment of  my  present  happiness,  when  1  carry  my  views 
into  futurity.  All  my  felicity  vanishes  away  like  a  dream, 
since  you,  my  son,  reject  all  means  of  rendering  yourself 
capable  of  governing  well  after  me.  Your  incapacity  is 
voluntary ;  for  you  cannot  excuse  yourself  from  want  of 
genius :  it  is  inclinatioa  alone  you  want.  Far  less  can 
you  plead  the  want  of  bodily  strength,  as  if  God  had  not 
furnished  you  suflBcientl3'  in  ihat  respect :  for  though  your 
constitution  be  none  the  strongest,  it  cannot  be  reckoned 
weak.  Yet  you  will  not  so  much  as  hear  of  warlike 
exercises  ;  though  it  is  by  those  means  we  are  risen  from 
that  obscurity  in  which  we  were  buried,  and  have  made 
ourselves  known  to  the  nations  about  us,  whose  esteem 
we  now  enjoj'.  I  am  far  from  desiring  you  to  cherish  in 
yourself  a  disposition  to  make  war  for  its  own  sake,  and 
without  just  reasons:  all  I  demand  of  you  is,  that  you 
would  apply  yourself  to  learn  the  military  art;  because, 
Krithout  uijderstanding  the  rules  of  war,  it  is  impossible 
\o  be  qualified  for  government.  1  might  set  before  your 
eyes  many  examples  of  what  I  propose  to  yon  ;  but  shall 
onl^-  mention  the  Greeks,  with  whom  we  are  united  by 
the  same  profession  of  faith.  Whence  came  the  declen- 
sion of  their  empire,  but  from  the  neglect  of  arms  }  Sloth 
and  inaction  have  subjected  them  to  tyrants,  and  that 
davery  ocder  which  thej  have  groaned.    Yoa  are  mtiol: 


266  HISTORY  OF 

have  shewn  to  all  kind  of  business,  and  sigriified 
to  you,  that  I  was  highly  dissatisfied  with  your 

mistaken  if  you  imagine  it  is  enough  for  a  prince  that  he 
have  good  generals  to  act  under  his  orders  :  no, my  son, 
it  is  upon  the  chief  himself  that  the  eyes  of  the  world 
are  fixed  ;  they  study  his  inclinations,  and  easily  slide 
into  the  in:iiation  of  his  manners.  My  brother,  during 
his  reign,  loved  magnificence  in  dress,  and  splendid 
equipages,  and  horses  ricklj-  caparisoned  ;  the  taste  of  this 
country  was  not  much  formed  that  way  ;  but  the  pleasures 
of  the  prince  soon  became  those  of  the  subjects,  who  are 
readily  led  to  imitate  him  both  in  the  objects  of  his  love 
and  disgust.  If  people  are  so  easily  disengaged  from  things 
that  are  only  for  pleasure,  will  they  not  be  still  more  prone 
to  forget,  aud  in  process  of  time  wholly  to  lay  aside  the 
use  of  arms,  the  exercise  of  which  grows  the  more  irksome 
the  less  they  are  habituated  to  them  ?  You  have  no  in- 
clination to  learn  the  profession  of  war  ;  yon  do  not  apply 
yourself  to  it;  and  consequently  will  never  know  it.  How 
then  will  you  be  able  to  command  others,  and  to  judge  of 
the  rewards  which  those  subjects  deserve  who  do  their 
duty,  or  of  the  punishment  due  to  such  as  fall  short  of 
obedience  ?  You  must  judge  only  by  other  people's  eyes  ; 
and  will  be  considered  as  a  young  bird,  which  reaching 
out  its  beak,  is  as  ready  to  receive  poison  as  proper 
nourishment.  You  say,  the  iufirm  state  of  your  health 
makes  you  unfit  to  bear  the  fatigues  of  war  ;  but  that  is  a 
frivolous  excuse.  1  desire  you  not  to  undergo  the  fatigues 
of  that  profession,  though  it  is  there  that  all  great 
captains  are  begun  ;  but  I  wish  you  had  aa  inclination  to 
the  military  art;  and  reason  may  give  it  3'ou,  if  you  have 
it  not  from  nature.  Had  you  once  this  inclination,  it 
would  occupy  your  thoughts  at  all  times,  even  in  your 
hours  of  sickness.  Ask  those  who  remember  my  brother's 
reign  :  his  state  of  health  was  much  more  infirm  than 
your's ;  he  could  not  manage  a  horse  of  never  so  little 
mettle,  nor  hardly  mount  him:  yet  he  loved  horses,  and 
perhaps  there  never  will  be  in  the  countrj'  liner  stables 
-han  his.  Hence  you  see,  that  success  does  not  always 
depend  upon  personal  labour,  but  upon  the  inclination. 
If  you  think  that  there  are  princes,  whose  affairs  fail  not 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  289 

conduct  in  general ;  but  to  these  particulars  you 
iiave  given  me   no  answer.     Paternal  exhorta- 

<o  succeed,  though  they  go  not  to  war  in  person,  yoa  are 
la  the  right ;  bu-t  if  they  go  not  to  the  field  of  battle,  the^ 
iare,  however,  an  inclination  to  go,  and  are  acquainted 
with  tho  military  art.  For  instance,  the  late  king  of 
France  did  not  always  take  the  field  himself;  but  we 
know  to  what  a  degree  he  was  a  lover  of  war,  and  how- 
many  glorious  exploits  he  performed  therein ;  which 
made  his  campaigns  be  called  the  theatre  and  school  of 
the  world.  The  bentoffhat  prince's  mind  was  not  turned 
to  military  afifairs  only,  he  had  also  a  taste  for  the  polite 
arts,  for  manufactures,  and  other  institutions,  wtiich  have 
made  his  kingdom  more  flourishing  than  any  other.  After 
all  these  remonstrances  which  I  have  laid  before  you,  I 
return  to  my  first  subject,  which  immediately  concerns 
yourself.  I  am  a  man,  and  consequently  must  die  :  to 
whom  shall  I  leave  the  care  of  finishing  what,  b}'  God's 
grace,  I  have  begun,  and  of  preserving  what  1  have  in 
pan  recovered  ?  To  a  son  who,  like  that  slothful  servant 
in  the  gospel,  buries  his  talent  iu  the  earth,  and  neglects 
to  improve  what  God  has  committed  to  his  trust  ?  How 
often  have  I  reproached  30U  for  your  sulk-nness  and  in- 
docility  ?  I  have  been  obliged  to  chastise  you  on  that 
account.  For  these  several  years  past  I  have  hardly 
spoke  to  3'ou,  because  I  almost  despair  of  bringing  you 
back  to  the  right  way  ;  discouraged  and  disheartened  by 
the  fruitlessuess  of  all  mj'  endeavours.  You  loiter  on  in 
•upine  indolence  ;  abandoning  yourself  to  shameful  plea- 
sures, without  extending  j-our  foresight  to  the  dangerous 
consequences  which  such  a  conduct  must  produce  both 
to  yourself  and  the  whole  slate  :  you  confine  yourself  to 
the  government  of  your  own  house,  and  in  that  station 
you  acquit  j'ourself  verj'  ill  ;  St.  Paul  has  told  us,  '  he 
that  knows  not  how  to  govern  his  own  house,  how  shall 
he  be  able  to  rule  the  church  of  God  ?'  In  like  manner 
I  say  to  you,  since  j'ou  know  not  how  to  manage  your 
domestic  afifairs,  how  can  you  be  able  to  govern  a  king- 
dom r  I  am  determined,  at  last,  to  signify  to  you  my 
final  purpose  ;  being  willing,  however,  to  defer  the  ex» 
ctUioQ  of  it  for  a  short  time,  to  see  if  you  will  reform 
N 


<90  HISTORY  OF 

dons  make  no  impression  on  you,  wherefore  I 
resolved  to  write  you  this  once  for  the  last  time. 

if  not,  know  iLat  1  am  resolved  to  deprive  voii  of  tli« 
Boccession,  as  I  would  lop  off  a  useless  branch.  Do  not 
imagine,  that  because  1  have  no  other  child  but  yon,*  I 
mean  by  this  only  to  intimidate  you  :  I  will  most  cer- 
tainly execute  my  resolution  ;  and  God  requires  it  of  me  : 
for,  since  I  spare  not  my  own  life  for  the  sake  of  my 
country,  and  the  welfare  of  my  people,  why  should  I 
allovr  an  effeminate  prince  to  ascend  the  throne  after  me, 
who  would  sacrifice  the  interest  of  the  subject  to  his 
pleasures.'  and  should  he  be  obliged  to  expose  his  life  in 
their  behalf,  would  leave  them  to  perish,  rather  than  re- 
dress their  grievances.  I  will  call  in  a  mere  stranger  to 
the  crown,  if  he  be  but  worthj'  of  that  honour,  sooner 
than  my  own  son,  if  he  is  unworthy. 

'  PETER.' 

To  this  letter  the  czarowitz  replied  :  '  Most  gracious 
sovereign  and  father,  I  have  read  the  letter  which  your 
majesty  sent  me  of  the  27th  of  October,  1715,  after  the  in- 
terment of  my  wife  ;  and  all  the  answer  I  can  make  to  it 
is,  that  if  your  majesty  is  determined  to  deprive  me  of  the 
succession  to  the  crown  of  Russia,  on  account  of  my  inabi- 
lity, your  will  be  done,  i  eveii  request  it  of  you  very 
earnestly  ;  because  I  judge  not  myself  fit  for  government. 
My  memory  is  greatly  impaired;  and  without  memory 
there  is  no  managing  affairs.  The  powers  both  of  my 
bodj-  and  mind  are  much  weakened  bj-  the  diseases  to 
which  I  have  been  incident,  and  1  am  thereby  incapaci- 
tated for  the  rule  of  so  great  a  people.  Such  a  charge 
requires  a  man  far  more  Tigorous  than  1  am.  For  these 
reasons  I  am  not  ambitious  to  succeed  you  (whom  God 
preserve  through  a  length  of  years)  in  the  crown  of 
Russia,  even  though  I  had  no  brother,  as  I  have  one  at 
present,  whom  God  long  preserve.  As  little  will  I  for  the 
future  set  up  any  claim  to  the  succession  :  to  the  truth  ot 
which  I  solemnly  swear,  tcking  God  it  bo  my  witneM; 

•  This  letter  was  written  about  eight  days  oefore  tl» 
birth  of  Peter  Petro?.-itz,  the  czar's  second  6cn» 


PETER  TPIE  GREAT.  291 

If  you  despise  the  advice  I  give  you  while  I  am 
alive,  what  regard  will  you  pay  to  them  after 
my  death?  But  though  you  had  the  inclination 
at  present  to  be  true  to  your  promises,  yet  a 
corrupt  priesthood  will  be  able  to  turn  you  at 
pleasure,  and  force  you  to  falsify  them.  They 
have  no  depeudance  but  upon  you.  You  have 
no  sense  of  gratitude  towards  hira  who  gave  you 
your  being.  Have  you  ever  assisted  him  in  toils 
and  labours  since  you  arrived  at  the  age  of  matu- 
rity ?  Do  you  not  censure  and  condemn,  nay, 
even  affect  to  hold  in  detestation,  whatever  I 
do  for  the  good  of  my  people?  In  a  word,  I 
have  reason  to  conclude,  that  if  you  survive  me, 
you  will  overturn  every  thing  that  I  have  done. 
Take  your  choice,  either  endeavour  to  make 
yourself  worthy  of  the  throne,  or  embrace  a  mo- 
nastic state.  I  expect  your  answer,  either  in 
writing,  or  by  word  of  mouth,  otherwise  1  shall 
treat  you  as  a  common  malefactor.' 

This  letter  was  very  severe,  and  it  was  easy 
for  the  prince  to  have  replied,  that  he  would 
alcer  his  conduct  ;  instead  of  which,  he  only  re- 
turned a  short  answer  to  his  father,  desiring 
permission  to  turn  monk.* 

aud  in  testimony  thereof  I  write  and  sign  these  presents. 
1  put  my  children  into  your  hands :  and  for  myself  I  ask 
no  more  of  you  than  a  bare  maintenance  daring  my  life, 
leaving  the  whole  to  your  pleasure. 

'  Your  hnmfr.'e  servant  and  son, 

'ALEXIS.' 

Peter  soon  penetrated  through  the  disguise  his  son  bad 
at-sumed,  and  therefore  wrote  him  the  above  letter,  dated 
Jauuary  ig,  I716,  and  which  he  called  his  '  Last  Admo- 
nilion.* 

•  This  letter  was  couched  in  the  following  terms  : — 
Most  gracious  sovereign  and  father,  yesterday  morning 


29^  HISTORY  OF 

This  resolution  appeared  altogether  unnar 
tural  ;  and  it  may  furnish  matter  of  surprise, 
that  the  czar  should  think  of  travelling,  and 
leaving  a  son  at  home  so  obstinate  and  ill-af- 
fected;  but,  at  the  same  time,  his  doing  so,  is 
next  to  a  proof,  that  he  thought  he  had  no  reason 
to  apprehend  a  conspiracy  from  that  son. 

The  czar,  before  he  set  out  for  Germany  and 
France,  w  ent  to  pay  his  son  a  visit.  The  prince, 
who  was  at  that  time  ill,  or  at  least  feigned  him- 
self so,  received  his  father  in  his  bed,  where  he 
protested,  with  the  most  solemn  oaths,  that  he 
was  ready  to  retire  into  a  cloister.  The  czar 
gave  him  six  months  to  consider  of  it,  and  then 
set  out  on  his  travels  with  the  czarina. 

No  sooner  was  he  arrived  at  Copenhagen, 
than  he  heard  (what  he  might  reasonably  ex- 
pect) that  the  czarowitz  conversed  only  with 
factious  and  evil-minded  persons,  who  strove 
to  feed  his  discontent.  Upon  this  the  czar 
wrote  to  him,  that  he  had  to  choose  between  a 
throne  and  a  convent ;  and  that,  if  he  had  any 
thoughts  of  succeeding  him,  he  must  immediately 
set  out  and  join  him  at  Copenhagen. 

But  the  confidants  of  the  prince  remonstrating 
to  bim  how  dangerous  it  would  be  to  trust  him- 
self in  a  place  where  he  could  have  no  friends  to 
advise  him,  and  where  he  would  be  exposed  to 
the  anger  of  an  incensed  father,  and  the  machi- 
nations of  a  revengeful  step-mother ;  he,  under 
pretence  of  going  to  join  his  father  at  Copen- 

I  received  your  letter,  of  the  IQth  of  this  month  :  mj-  in- 
disposition hinders  me  from  writing  to  you  at  large,  but 
I  am  willing  to  embrace  the  monastic  state,  and  I  beg 
your  gracious  consent  thereto. 

'  Your  servant,  and  unworhy  son, 

'  ALEXIS.' 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  293 

hagen,  took  the  road  to  Vie^.ia,  and  threw 
himself  under  the  protection  of  the  emperor 
Charles  VI.  his  brother-in-law,  intending  to  re- 
main at  hi?  court  till  the  death  of  the  czar. 

This  adventure  of  the  czarowitz  was  nearly 
the  same  as  that  of  Lewis  XI.  of  Fiance,  who. 
when  he  was  dauphin,  quitted  the  court  of  his 
father  Charles  VII.  and  took  refuge  with  the 
duke  of  Burgundy  ;  but  the  dauphin  was  muclj 
more  culpable  than  Alexis,  inasmuch  as  he  mar- 
ried in  direct  opposition  to  his  father's  will, 
raised  an  army  against  him,  and  threw  himself 
into  the  arms  of  a  prince,  who  was  Charles's  de- 
clared enemy,  and  refused  to  hearken  to  the  re- 
peated remonstances  of  his  father,  to  return  back 
to  his  court. 

The  czarowitz,  on  the  contrary,  had  married 
only  in  compliance  with  his  father's  orders,  had 
never  rebelled  against  him,  nor  raised  an  army, 
nor  taken  refuge  in  the  dominions  of  an  enemy, 
and  returned  to  throw  himself  at  his  feet,  upon 
the  very  first  letter  he  received  from  him;  for, 
as  soon  as  Peter  knew  that  his  son  had  been  at 
Vienna,  and  had  afterwards  retired  to  Tyrol, 
and  from  thence  to  Naples,  which,  at  that  time, 
belonged  to  the  emperor,  he  dispatched  Iloman- 
zoff,  a  captain  of  his  guards,  and  the  privy-coun- 
sellor Tolstoy,  with  a  letter  written  with  his  own 
hand,  and  dated  at  Spa,  the  21st  of  July,  N.  S. 
1717.  They  found  the  prince  at  Naples,  in  the 
castle  of  St.  P2lme,  and  delivered  to  him  his  fa- 
ther's letter,  which  was  as  follows  : — 

'  I  now  write  to  you  for  the  last  time,  to  ac- 
quaint you,  that  you  must  instantly  comply  with 
my  orders,  v/hich  will  be  communicated  to  'you 
by  Tolstoy  and  RomanzofF.  If  you  obey,  1  give 
you  my  sacred  word  and  promise,  that  I  will 
not  punish  you  ;  and  that,    if  you  will  return 


294  HISTORY  OV 

home,  I  will  love  you  uiore  than  ever;  but,  i. 
you  do  not,  1,  as  your  father,  and  in  virtue  of 
the  authority  which  God  has  given  me  over  you, 
denounce  against  you  my  eternal  curse  ;  and,  as 
your  sovereign,  declare  to  you,  that  I  will  find 
means  to  punish  your  disobedience,  in  which  I 
trust  God  himself  will  assist  me,  and  espouse 
the  just  cause  of  an  injured  parent  and  king. 

'  For  the  rest,  remember  that  I  have  never 
laid  any  restraint  upon  you.  Was  I  obliged  to 
leave  you  at  liberty  to  choose  your  way  of  life  1 
Had  I  not  the  power  in  my  own  hands  to  oblige 
^ou  to  conform  to  my  will  1  I  had  only  to  com- 
mand,  and  make  myself  obeyed.' 

The  viceroy  of  Naples  found  it  no  difficult 
matter  to  persuade  the  czarowitz  to  return  to  his 
father.  This  is  an  incontestable  proof  that  the 
emperor  had  no  intention  to  enter  into  any  en- 
gagements with  the  prince,  that  might  give  um- 
brage to  his  father.  Alexis  therefore  returned 
with  the  envoys,  bringing  with  him  his  mistress, 
AphrosjTie,  who  had  been  the  companion  of  his 
elopement. 

We  may  consider  the  czarowitz  as  an  ill-ad- 
vised young  man,  who  had  gone  to  Vienna  and  to 
Naples,  instead  of  going  to  Copenhagen,  agree- 
able to  the  orders  of  his  father  and  sovereign. 
Had  he  been  guilty  of  no  other  crime  than  this, 
which  is  common  enough  with  young  and  giddy 
persons,  it  was  certainly  very  excusaWe.  'i'he 
prince  determined  to  return  to  his  father,  on  the 
faith  of  his  having  taken  God  to  witness,  that 
he  not  only  would  pardon  him,  but  that  he  would 
love  him  better  than  ever.  But  it  appears  by 
the  instructions  given  to  the  two  envoys  who 
went  to  fetch  him,  and  even  by  the  czar's  jwn 
letter,  that  his  father  required  hina  to  declare  the 
•>ersons  who  had  beer,  his  counsellors,  and  also 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  295 

to  fulfil  the  oath  he  had  made  of  renouncing  the 
succession. 

It  seemed  difficult  to  reconcile  this  exclusion 
of  the  czarowitz  from  the  succession,  with  the 
other  part  of  the  oath,  by  which  the  czar  had 
bound  himself  in  his  letter,  namely  that  of  loving 
his  son  better  than  ever.  Perhaps  divided  be- 
tween paternal  love,  and  the  justice  he  owed  to 
himself  and  people,  as  a  sovereign,  he  might  limit 
the  renevi-al  of  his  affection  to  his  son  in  a  con- 
vent, instead  of  to  that  son  on  a  throne :  per- 
haps, likewise,  he  was  in  hopes  to  reduce  hira 
to  reason,  and  to  render  him  worthy  of  the  suc- 
cession at  last,  by  making  him  sensible  of  the 
loss  of  a  crown  which  he  had  forfeited  by  his  own 
indiscretion.  In  a  circumstance  so  uncommon, 
so  intricate,  and  so  afflicting,  it  may  be  easily 
supposed  that  the  minds  of  both  father  and  son 
were  under  equal  perturbation,  and  hardly  con- 
sistent with  themselves. 

The  prince  arrived  at  Moscow  on  the  13th  of 
February.  N.  S.  1717;  and  the  same  day  went  to 
throw  himself  at  his  father's  feet,  who  was  re- 
turned to  the  city  from  his  travels.  They  had 
along  conference  together,  and  a  report  was  im- 
mediately spread  through  the  city,  that  the  prince 
and  his  father  were  reconciled,  and  that  all  past 
transactions  were  buried  in  oblivion.  But  the 
next  day,  orders  were  issued  for  the  regiments 
of  guards  to  be  under  arras  at  break  of  day.  and 
for  all  the  czar's  ministers,  boyards,  and  coun- 
sellors, to  repair  to  the  great  hall  of  the  castle  : 
as  also  for  the  prelates,  together  with  two  monks 
of  St.  Basile,  professors  of  divinity,  to  assemble. 
in  the  cathedral,  at  the  tolling  of  the  great  bell. 
The  unhappy  prince  was  then  conducted  to  the 
great  castle  like  a  j)risoner,  and  being  come  in 
his  father's  presence,  threw  himself  in   tearn  nt 


296  HISTORY  OF 

his  feet,  and  presented  a  writing,  containing  a 
confession  of  bisfaults,  declaring  himself  unworthy 
of  the  succession,  and  imploring  only  that  his  life 
miglit  be  spared.* 

The  czar,  raising  up  his  son,  withdrew  with 
him  into  a  private  room,  where  he  put  many  ques- 
tions to  him,  declaring  to  him  at  the  same  time; 
that  if  he  concealed  any  one  circumstance  relating 
to  his  elopement,  his  life  should  answer  for  it. 
The  prince  was  then  brought  back  to  the  great 
hall,  where  the  council  was  assembled,  and  the 
czar's  declaration,  which  had  been  previously 
prepared,  was  there  pubLcly  read  in  his  pre- 
Bence.t 

•  The  prince's  renunciation  was  couched  in  the  fol- 
/owing  terms  : — '  I,  the  undernamed,  declare  upon  the 
holy  gospel,  that  on  account  of  the  crimes  I  have  com- 
mitted against  his  czarish  majesty,  my  father  and  bo- 
vereijn,  as  set  forth  in  his  manifesto,  I  am,  through  my 
own  fault,  excluded  from  the  throne  of  Russia.  There- 
fore I  confess  and  acknowledge  that  exclusion  to  be  just 
as  having  merited  it  by  my  own  fault  aud  'iuworihiness,: 
and  I  hereby  oblige  myself,  and  swear  in  the  presence  of 
Almighty  God,  in  unity  of  nature,  and  trinity  of  persons, 
as  my  supreme  Judge,  to  submit  in  all  things  to  my 
father's  will,  never  to  set  up  a  claim  or  pretension  to  the 
succession,  or  accept  of  it  under  any  pretext  whatever, 
acknowledging  my  brother  Peter  Petrowitz  as  lawful 
successor  to  the  crown.  In  testimony  whereof,  I  kiss 
the  holy  cross,  and  sign  these  presents  with  my  own 
hand.  'ALEXIS.' 

t  As  this  extraordinary  piece  cannot  fail  of  being  in- 
teresting to  most  part  of  our  readers,  we  have  ventured 
to  subjoin  the  whole  of  it  in  a  note,  our  author  fcavin|f 
on)»;  given  some  few  extracts. 

The  Czar's  Declaration. 
Peter  1.  by  the  grace  of  God,  czar,  emperor  of  Russia, 
^1'.  to  all  our  faithful  subject*,  ecclesiastical,  militar/,»n<l 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  29? 

In  tliis  piece  the  czar  reproaches  his  sou  with 

all  those  faults  we  have  before  related,  namely, 

ciTil,  of  all  the  states  of  the  Russian  nation.  It  is  no- 
torious, and  well  known  to  the  greatest  part  of  our  faith- 
ful subjects,  and  cliiefly  to  those  who  live  in  the  places 
of  ourresidence,  or  who  are  iu  our  service,  with  how  much 
care  and  applicati  n  we  have  caused  our  eldest  son  Alexis 
to  be  brought  up  and  educated  ;  having  given  him  for 
that  purpose,  from  his  infancy,  tutors  to  teach  him  the 
Russian  tongue,  and  foreign  languages,  and  to  instruct 
him  in  all  arts  and  sciences,  in  order  not  only  to  bring 
him  up  in  our  Christian  oriliodox  faith  of  the  Greek  pro- 
fession, but  also  in  the  knowledge  of  political  and  mili- 
tary aflfairs,  and  likewise  in  the  constitution  of  foreign 
countries,  their  customs  and  languages;  through  the  read- 
ing of  history,  and  other  books,  in  all  manner  of  sciences, 
becoming  a  prince  of  his  high  rank,  he  might  acquire  the 
qualifications  worthy  of  a  successor  to  our  throne  of  Great 
Russia.  Nevertheless,  we  have  seen  with  grief,  that  all 
attention  and  care,  for  the  education  and  instruction  of 
oar  son,  proved  ineffectual  and  useless,  seeing  he  always 
Bwerved  from  his  filial  obed'.ence,  shewing  no  application 
for  what  was  becoming  a  wtrthj*  successor,  and  slighting 
the  precepts  of  the  masters  we  had  appointed  for  him  ; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  frequenting  disordi.rlj-personB,  from 
whom  he  could  learn  nothing  good,  or  that  would  be  ad- 
vantageous and  useful  to  him.  We  have  not  m^glected 
often  to  endeavour  to  reclaim,  and  bring  him  hnrY  to  hifl 
duly,  sometimes  b3'  caresees  and  gentle  means,  some- 
times by  reprimands,  sometimes  by  paternal  corrections. 
We  have  more  than  once  taken  him  witli  us  into  our  army 
and  the  field,  that  he  might  be  instructed  in  the  art  of  war, 
as  one  of  tlie  chief  sciences  for  the  defence  of  his  coun- 
try ;  s.'uardin.;  him,  at  the  same  time,  from  £.11  hazard  of 
the  succession,  though  we  exposed  ourself  to  manifest 
perils  and  dangers.  We  have  ut  other  times  left  him  at 
Moscow,  putting  into  his  hands  a  sort  of  regency  ia 
the  empire,  in  order  to  form  him  in  the  art  of  govern- 
ment, and  that  he  might  learn  how  to  reiijn  after  u«.  Wc 
have  likewise  sent  Iiim  into  foreign  cou;nries,  in  hopes 
end  expectation,  iLst  seeinu',  in  hi.s  travels,  governmon;* 


«99  HISTORY  OF 

his  little  application  to  study,  his  connexions  with ' 
the  favourers  of  the  ancient  cuslonns  and  manners 


BO  well  regulated,  this  •;vould  excite  in  him  some  emo- 
lation  and  an  inciiaaiicn  to  apply  )iimself  to  do  well. 
But  all  our  care  his  been  fruitless,  and  like  the  seed  of 
the  doctrine  fallen  upon  a  rock ;  for  he  Las  not  only  re- 
fused to  follow  that  which  is  good,  but  even  is  come  to 
bate  it,  without  shewing  anj-  inclination,  or  disposition, 
either  for  military  or  political  affairs;  hourly  and  con- 
tinually conversing  with  base  and  disorderly  persons, 
whose  morals  are  rude  and  abominable.  As  we  were  re- 
solved to  endeavour,  by  all  imaginable  means,  to  reclaim 
bira  from  that  disorderly  course,  and  to  inspire  him  with 
an  inclination  to  converse  with  persons  of  virtue  and 
honour ;  we  exhorted  him  to  choose  a  consort  among 
the  chief  foreign  houses,  as  is  usual  in  other  countries, 
and  hath  been  practised  by  our  ancestors,  the  czars  of 
Russia,  who  have  contracted  alHances  by  marriages  with 
other  sovereign  houses,  and  we  have  left  him  at  liberty 
to  make  a  choice.  lie  declared  his  inclination  for  lh« 
princess,  grand-daughter  of  the  duke  of  Wolfenbuttle, 
then  reigning,  sister-in-law  to  his  imperial  majesty  tbt 
emperor  of  the  Romans,  now  reigning,  and  cousin  to  the 
king  of  Great  Britain  ;  and  having  desired  us  to  procure 
him  that  alliance,  and  permit  him  to  marry  that  princess, 
we  readily  consented  thereunto,  without  an""  regard  to 
the  great  expense  which  was  necessarily  occasioned  by 
that  marriage  :  but,  after  its  consummation ,  we  found  our- 
selves disappointed  of  the  hopes  we  had,  that  the  change  in 
the  condition  of  our  son  would  produce  good  fruits,  and 
change  his  bad  icclinations;  for,  notwithstanding  his 
spouse  was,  as  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  observe,  a  wise, 
sprightly  princess,  and  of  a  virtuous  conduct,  and  that  he 
himself  had  chcsen  her,  he  nevertheless  lived  with  her  in 
the  greatest  disunion,  while  he  redoubled  his  afTection  for 
lewd  people, bringing  thereby  a  disgrace  upon  our  house  in 
the  eyesof  foreign  powers  to  whom  that  princesswaa  related, 
which  drew  upon  us  many  complaints  and  reproaches. 
Our  frequent  advices  ar.d  exhortations  to  him,  to  reform 
his  conduct,  proved  ineffectual,  and  he  at  last  violated  th« 
conjugal  faith,  and  gave   hie  affection  to  a  prostitute  of 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  299 

of  the  country,  and  bis  ill-behaviour  to  his  wife.' 
— '  He  has  even  violated  the  conjugal  faith,'  saith 

t!ie  most  servile  and  low  condition,  living  publicly  in 
that  crime  with  her,  to  the  great  contempt  of  his  lawfut 
spouse,  who  soon  after  died  ;  and  it  was  believed  that 
bcr  grief,  occasioned  by  the  disorderly  life  of  her  hus- 
band, hastened  the  end  of  her  days.  When  we  saw  his 
resolution  to  persevere  in  his  vicious  courses,  we  declared 
to  him,  at  tlie  funeral  of  his  consort,  that  if  he  did  not 
tor  the  future  conform  to  our  will,  and  apply  himself  to 
things  becoming  a  prince,  presumptive  heir  to  so  great 
an  empire,  we  would  deprive  him  of  the  succession, 
without  any  regard  to  his  being  our  only  son  (our  second 
Kon  was  not  then  born)  and  that  he  ought  not  to  rely 
upon  his  being  such,  because  we  would  rather  choose  for 
our  successor  a  stranger  worthy  thereof,  than  an  unwor* 
thy  son ;  that  we  would  not  leave  our  empire  to  such  a 
successor,  who  would  ruin  and  destroj-  what  we  have, 
by  God's  assistance,  established,  and  tarnish  the  glory 
and  honour  of  the  Russian  nation,  for  the  acquiring  of 
which  we  had  sacrificed  our  ease  and  our  health,  and 
willingly  exposed  our  life  on  several  occasions  ;  besides, 
that  the  fear  of  God's  judgment  would  not  permit  us  to 
leave  the  government  of  such  vast  territories  in  the  hands 
of  one  whose  insufficiency  and  nnworthiness  we  were  not 
ignorant  of.  In  short,  we  exhorted  him  in  the  most 
pressing  terms  we  could  make  use  of,  to  behave  himself 
with  discretion,  and  gave  him  time  to  repent  and  return 
to  his  duty.  His  answer  to  these  remonstrances  was, 
that  he  acknowledged  himself  guilty  in  all  these  points ; 
but  alleged  the  weakness  of  his  parts  and  genius,  which 
did  not  permit  him  to  apply  himself  to  the  sciences,  and 
other  functions  recommended  to  him  :  he  owned  himself 
incapable  of  our  s-uccessiun,  and  desired  us  to  discharge 
him  from  the  same.  Nevertheless,  we  continued  to  ex- 
hort him  with  a  paternal  affection,  and  joining  menaces 
to  our  exliortations ;  we  forgot  nothing  to  bring  him  back  to 
the  right  way.  The  operations  of  the  war  having  ol)lige<l 
us  to  repair  to  Denmark,  we  left  him  at  Petersburg,  to 
five  him  time  to  return  to  his  duty,  and  amend  his  waya; 
Rod,  afterwards,  upon  the  repeated   advices  we  received 


300  HISTORY  OF 

the  czar  in  his  manifesto,  '  by  giving  his  affection 
to  a  prostitute  of  the  nnost  servile  and  low  con- 

of  the  continuauce  of  his  disorderly  life,  we  sent  him  or- 
ders to  come  to  us  at  Copenhagen,  to  make  the  campaign, 
that  he  might  thereby  the  better  form  himself.  But,  for- 
getting the  fear  and  commandments  of  God,  who  enjoins 
obedience  even  to  private  parents,  and  much  more  to 
those  who  are  at  the  same  time  sovereigns,  our  paternal 
cares  had  no  other  return  than  unheard-of  ingratitude  ; 
for,  instead  of  coming  to  us  as  we  ordered,  he  withdrew, 
with  large  sums  of  money,  and  his  infamous  concubine, 
with  whom  he  continued  to  live  in  a  criminal  course,  and 
put  himself  under  the  protection  of  the  emperor,  raising 
against  us,  his  father  and  his  lord,  numberless  calumnies 
and  false  reports,  as  if  we  did  persecute  him,  and  intended, 
without  cause,  to  deprive  him  of  the  succession  ;  alleging, 
moreover,  that  even  his  life  was  not  safe  if  he  continued 
with  us,  and  desired  the  emperor  not  only  to  give  him 
refuge  in  his  dominions,  but  also  to  protect  him  against 
tis  by  force  of  arms.  Every  one  maj-  judge,  what  shame 
and  dishonour  this  conduct  of  our  son  hatb  drawn  upoo 
us  and  our  empire,  in  the  face  of  the  whole  world  ;  the 
like  instance  is  hardly  to  be  found  in  history.  The  em- 
peror, though  informed  of  his  excesses,  and  how  he  had 
lived  with  his  consort,  sister-in  law  to  his  imperial  ma- 
jesty, thought  fit,  however,  upon  these  pressing  instances, 
to  appoint  him  a  place  where  he  might  reside  ;  and  he 
desired  farther,  that  he  might  be  so  private  there,  that 
we  might  not  come  to  the  knowledge  of  it.  Meanwhile 
his  long  stay  having  made  us  fear,  out  of  a  tender  and 
fatherly  affection  for  him,  that  some  misfortune  had  be- 
fallen him,  we  sent  persons  several  wars  to  get  intelli- 
gence of  him,  and,  after  a  great  deal  of  trouble,  we  were 
at  last  informed  bj'  the  captain  of  our  guard,  Alexander 
RomanzofF,  that  he  was  privately  kept  in  aa  imperial 
fortress  at  Tj-rol ;  whereupon  we  wrote  a  letter,  with  our 
owu  hand,  to  the  emperor,  to  desire  that  he  might  be 
sent  back  to  us  :  but,  notwithstahding  the  emperor  ac- 
quainted him  with  our  demands,  and  exhorted  him  to 
rettirn  to  us,  and  submit  to  our  will,  as  beiug  his  father 
end  lord  ;  yet  he   alUged,  with  a  great  many  calumnies 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  301 

dition,  during  the  life-time  of  his  lawful  spouse.' 
It  is  certain  that  Peter  himself  had  repudiatea 

agaiust  us,  that  he  ought  not  to  ne  delivered  into  our 
hands,  as  if  we  had  been  his  enemy,  and  a  tyrant,  from 
whom  he  had  notliing  to  expect  but  death.  In  short,  he 
persuaded  liis  imperial  majesty,  instead  of  sending  him 
back  at  that  time  to  us,  to  remove  him  to  some  remote 
place  in  his  dominions,  namely,  Naples  in  Italj',  and 
keep  him  there  secretly  in  the  castle,  under  a  borrowed 
Dame.  Nevertheless,  we  having  notice  of  the  place 
where  he  was,  did  thereupon  dispatch  to  the  emperor  our 
privy-counsellor,  Peter  Tolstoy,  aud  the  captain  of  our 
guard,  aforesaid,  with  a  most  pressing  letter,  representing 
how  unjust  it  would  ^e  to  detain  our  son,  contrary  to  all 
laws,  divine  and  human,  according  to  which  private 
parents,  atid  with  much  more  reason  those  who  are  be 
sides  invested  with  a  sovereign  authority  as  we  are,  have 
an  unlimited  power  over  their  children,  independently 
of  any  other  judge  ;  and  we  set  forth  on  one  side,  the 
just  and  atfectionate  manner  with  which  we  had  alwayb 
used  our  son,  and,  on  the  other,  his  disobedience  ;  re- 
Dresenting,  in  the  conclusion,  the  ill  consequences  and 
animosities  which  the  refusal  of  delivering  up  our  son 
to  us  might  occasion,  because  we  would  not  leave  this 
affair  in  that  condition.  We,  at  the  same  time,  ordered 
those  we  sent  with  that  letter,  to  make  verbal  remon- 
strances even  in  more  pressing  terms,  and  to  declare  that 
we  should  be  obliged  to  revenge,  by  all  possible  methods, 
such  detaining  our  sou.  We  wrote  likewise  a  letter  to 
him  with  our  own  hand,  to  represent  to  him  the  horror 
and  impiety  of  his  conduct,  and  the  enormity  of  the  crime 
he  had  committed  against  us  his  father,  and  how  God 
t^reateued  in  his  laws  to  punish  disobedient  children 
with  eternal  death  :  we  threatened  him,  as  a  father,  with 
our  curses,  and,  as  his  lord,  to  declare  him  a  traitor  to  his 
country,  unless  he  returned,  and  obeyed  our  commands  ; 
and  gave  him  assurance,  that  if  he  did  as  we  desired,  and 
returned,  we  would  pardon  his  crime.  Our  envoj-s,  after 
many  solicitations,  and  the  above  representation,  made 
by  us  in  wriiiiij:.  at  last  obtained  leave  of  the  emperor 
10  go  and  speak  to  our  »on,  in  order  to  dispose  him  to 


502  HISTORY  OF 

his  own  wife  in  favour  of  a  captive,  but  that 
captive  was  a  person  of  exemplary  merit,  and 

return  home.  The  imperial  minister  gave  them  at  the 
sime  time  to  understaad,  that  our  son  had  informed  the 
ernperor  that  we  persecuted  him,  and  that  his  life  was  not 
safe  with  us.  whereby  he  moved  the  emperor's  compas- 
sion, and  induced  him  to  take  him  into  his  protection  ; 
out  that  the  emperor,  taking  now  into  his  consideration 
our  true  and  solid  representations,  promised  to  use  his 
utmost  endeavour  to  dispose  him  to  return  to  ns  ;  and 
would,  moreover,  declare  to  him,  that  he  could  not  in 
>astice  and  equity  refuse  to  deliver  him  to  his  father,  or 
have  any  difference  with  us  on  that  account.  Our  en- 
voys, upon  their  arrival  at  Naples,  having  desired  to 
deliver  to  him  our  letter,  written  with  our  hand,  sent 
us  word,  that  he  did  rufuse  to  admit  them  ;  but  that  the 
emperor's  viceroy  had  found  means,  by  inviting  him  to  his 
house,  to  present  them  to  him  afterwards,  much  against  his 
will.  He  did  then,  indeed,  receive  our  letter,  containing  our 
paternal  exhortation,  and  threatening  our  curse,  but  with- 
OQt  shewing  the  least  inclinatioi  to  return  ;  alleging  still 
a  great  many  falsities  and  calumnies  against  us,  as  if, 
by  reason  of  several  dangers  he  had  to  apprehend  from 
us,  he  could  not,  nor  would  not  return  ;  and  boasting, 
that  the  emperor  had  not  only  promised  to  defend  and  pro- 
tect him  against  us,  but  even  to  set  him  upon  the  throne 
of  Russia  against  our  will,  by  force  of  arms.  Our  en- 
voys perceiving  this  evil  disposition,  tried  all  imaginable 
ways  to  prevail  with  him  to  return,  they  intreated  him, 
they  expatiated  by  turns  upon  the  graciousness  of  our 
assurances  towards  him,  and  upon  our  threats  in  case  of 
disobedience,  and  that  we  would  even  bring  him  away 
by  force  of  arms  ;  they  declared  to  him  that  the  emperor 
would  not  enter  into  a  war  with  us  on  his  account,  and 
many  other  such-like  representations  did  they  make  to 
him.  But  he  paid  no  regard  to  all  this,  nor  shewed  any 
inclination  to  return  to  us,  until  the  imperial  viceroy, 
convinced  at  last  of  his  obstinacy,  told  him  in  the  em- 
peror's name,  that  he  ought  to  return  ;  for  that  his  im- 
perial majesty  could  cot  by  any  law  keep  him  from  ua, 
tior,  during  the  present  war  wiih  Turkey,  and  also  in  Italy 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  303 

the  czar  had  just  cause  for  discontent  against  his 
wife,  who  was  at  the  same  time  his  subject.   The 

with  Spain,  embroil  himself  with  U8  upon  his  account. 
When  he  saw  how  the  case  stood,  fearing  he  should  be 
deliTered  up  to  us,  whether  he  would  or  not,  he  at  length 
resolved  to  return  home  ;  and  declared  his  mind  to  our 
envoys,  and  to  the  imperial  viceroj'  :  he  likewise  wrote 
the  same  thing  to  us,  acknowledging  himself  to  be  a  cri- 
minal, and  blameworthy.  Now  although  our  son,  by  so 
long  a  course  of  criminal  disobedience  agairist  us,  his  fa- 
ther and  lord,  for  many  years,  and  particularly  for  the 
dishonour  he  hath  cast  upou  us  in  the  face  of  the  world, 
by  withdrawing  himself,  and  raising  calumnies  against  us, 
as  if  we  were  an  unnatural  father,  and  for  opposing  his 
sovereign,  hath  deserved  to  be  punished  with  death  ;  yet 
our  paternal  affection  inclines  us  to  have  mercy  upon  him, 
and  we  therefore  pardon  bis  crimes,  and  exempt  him  from 
all  punishment  for  the  same.  But  considering  his  un- 
worthiness,  we  cannot  in  conscience,  leave  him  after 
us  the  succession  to  the  throne  of  Russia ;  foreseeing 
that,  by  his  vicious  courses,  he  would  entirel3'  destroy 
the  glory  of  our  nation  and  the  safety  of  our  dominions, 
which,  through  God's  assistance,  we  have  acquired  and 
established  by  incessant  application ;  for  it  is  notorious 
and  known  to  every  one,  how  much  it  hath  cost  us,  and 
with  what  efforts  we  have  not  only  recovered  the  provinces 
which  the  enemy  had  usurped  from  our  empire,  but  also 
conquered  several  considerable  towns  and  sountries,  and 
with  what  care  we  have  caused  our  people  fc  be  instructed 
in  all  sorts  of  civil  and  military  sciences,  to  the  glory 
and  advantage  of  the  nation  and  empire.  Now,  as  we 
•bould  pity  our  states  and  faithful  subjects,  if,  by  such  a 
taccesBor,  we  should  throw  them  back  into  a  much  worse 
condition  than  ever  they  were  yet ;  so,  by  the  paternal 
authority',  in  virtue  of  which,  b3'  the  laws  of  our  empire, 
any  of  our  subjects  m»y  disinherit  a  son,  and  give  his 
Buccession  to  such  other  of  his  sons,  as  he  pleases  ;  and, 
in  quality  of  sovereign  prince,  iu  consideration  of  the 
safety  of  our  dominions,  we  do  deprive  our  said  soa 
.Alexis,  for  his  crimes  and  unwoniiiness,  of  the  succession 
after  us  to  the  throne  of  Russia,  ereD  though  there  should 


304  HISTORY  OF 

czarowitz,  on  the  coutrary,  had  abandoned  hie 
pnncess  for  a  young  woman,  hardly  known  to  any 
one,  and  who  had  no  other  merit  but  that  of  per- 
sonal cuarms.  So  far  there  appears  some  errors 
of  a  young  man,  which  a  parent  onght  to  re- 
primand in  secret,  and  -which  he  might  have 
pardoned. 

The  czar,  in  his  maiiifesto,  next  reproaches  his 
son  with  his  flight  to  Vienna,  and  his  having 
put  himself  under  the  emperor's  protection  ;  and 
adds,  that  he  had  calumniated  his  father,  by  tell- 
ing the  emperor  that  he  was  persecuted  by  him  ; 
and  that  he  had  compelled  him  to  renounce  the 
succession;  and,  lastly,  that  he  had  made  inter- 
cession with  the  emperor  to  assist  him  with  an 
armed  force. 

Here  it  immediately  occurs,  that  the  emperor 

not  remain  one  single  person  of  our  faniilj  after  us. 
And  we  do  constitute  and  declare  successor  to  the  said 
throne  after  us,  our  second  son  Peter,  though  yet  verj' 
young,  having  no  successor  that  is  older.  We  lay  upon 
our  said  son  Alexis  our  paternal  curse,  if  ever  at  any  time 
he  pretends  to,  or  reclaims,  the  said  succession ;  and  we 
desire  our  faithful  subjects,  whether  ecclesiastics  or  secu- 
lars, of  all  ranks  and  conditions,  and  the  whole  Russian 
nation,  in  conformity  to  this  constitution  and  our  will,  to 
acknowledge  and  consider  our  said  son  Peter,  appointed 
by  our  constitution,  to  confirm  the  whole  by  oath,  before 
the  holy  altar,  upon  the  holy  gospel,  kissing  the  cross; 
and  all  thobe  who  shall  ever,  at  any  time,  oppose  this  our 
will,  and  who,  from  this  day  forward,  shall  dare  to  con- 
sider our  son  Alexis,  as  successor,  or  to  assist  him  for 
that  purpose,  declare  them  traitors  to  us  and  their  country. 
And  we  Lave  ordered  that  these  presents  shall  be  every 
where  published  and  promulgated,  to  the  end  that  no  per- 
•on  may  pretend  ignorance. — Given  at  JIoscow,  the  third 
of  February,  1718.  Signed  with  cur  hand,  and 
with  our  seal. 

'  PETER.' 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  305 

could  not.  with  any  propriety,  have  entered  into 
a  war  with  the  czar  on  such  an  occasion ;  nor 
could  he  have  interposed  otherwise  between  an 
incensed  fatlier  and  a  disobedient  son,  than  by 
his  good  offices  to  promote  a  reconciliation.  Ac- 
cordingly we  find,  that  Charles  VI.  contented 
himself  with  giving  a  temporary  asylum  to  the 
fugitive  prince,  and  -eadily  sent  him  back  on  the 
first  requisition  of  the  czar,  in  consequence  of 
being  informed  of  the  place  his  son  had  chosen 
for  his  retreat. 

Peter  adds,  in  this  terrible  piece,  that  Alexis 
had  persuaded  the  emperor,  that  he  went  in 
danger  of  his  life,  if  he  returned  back  to  Russia. 
Surely  it  was  in  some  measure  justifying  these 
complaints  of  the  prince,  to  condemn  him  to  death 
at  his  return,  and  especially  after  so  solemn  a 
promise  to  pardon  him  ;  but  we  shall  see,  in  the 
course  of  this  history,  the  cause  which  afterwards 
moved  the  czar  to  denounce  this  ever-memorable 
sentence.  For  the  present  let  us  turn  our  eyes 
upon  an  absolute  prince,  pleading  against  his  son 
before  an  august  assembly. — 

'  In  this  manner,'  says  he,  '  has  our  son  re- 
turned ;  and  although,  by  his  withdrawing  him- 
self and  raising  calumnies  against  us,  he  has 
deserved  to  be  punished  with  death,  yet,  out  of 
our  paternal  affection,  we  pardon  his  crimes  ;  but, 
ctmsidering  his  unworthiness,  and  the  series  of 
his  irregular  conduct,  we  cannot  ul  conscience 
leave  him  the  succession  to  the  throne  of  Russia; 
foreseeing  that,  by  his  vicious  courses,  he  would, 
after  our  decease,  entirely  destroy  the  glory  of 
our  nation ,  and  the  safety  of  our  dominions,  which 
we  have  recovered  from  the  enemy. 

'  Now,  as  we  should  pity  our  states  and  our 
faithful  subjects,  if,  by  such  a  successor,  we  should 
throw  them  back  into  a  much  worse  condition 


o06  HISTORY  OF 

than  ever  they  were  yet ;  so,  by  the  paternal  au- 
thority, iind,  in  quality  of  sovereign  prince,  in 
consideration  of  tbe  safety  of  our  dominions,  we 
do  deprive  our  said  son  Alexis,  for  his  crimes 
and  unvvorthirjess,  of  the  succession  after  us  to 
our  throne  of  Russia,  even  though  there  should 
not  remain  one  single  person  of  our  family 
after  us. 

*  And  we  do  constitute  and  declare  successor 
to  the  said  throne  after  us,  our  second  son, 
Peter,*  though  yet  very  young,  having  no  succes- 
sor that  is  older. 

'  We  lay  upon  our  said  son  Alexis  our  pater- 
nal curse,  if  ever  at  any  time  he  pretends  to,  or 
reclaims,  the  said  succession. 

'  And  we  desire  our  faithful  subjects,  whether 
ecclesiastics  or  seculars,  of  all  ranks  and  condi- 
tions, and  the  whole  Russian  nation,  in  confor- 
mity to  this  constitution  and  our  will,  to  acknow- 
ledge and  consider  our  son  Peter,  appointed  by 
us  to  succeed,  as  lawful  successor,  and  agreeably 
to  this  our  constitution,  to  confirm  the  whole  by 
oath  before  the  holy  altar,  upon  the  holy  gospel, 
kissing  the  cross. 

'  And  all  those  who  shall  ever  at  any  time  op- 
pose this  our  will,  and  who,  fiom  this  day  for- 
ward, shall  dare  to  consider  our  son  Alexia  as 
successor,  or  assist  him  for  that  purpose,  declare 
them  traitors  to  us  and  our  country.  And  we 
have  ordered  that  these  presents  shall  be  every 
where  published  and  promulgated,  to  the  end 
that  no  person  may  pretend  ignorance.' 

It  would  seem  that  this  declaration  had  been 
prepared  beforehand  for  the  occasion,  or  that  it 
had  been  drawn  up  with  astonishing  dispatch  : 

•  This  was  the  son  of  the  empress  Catherine, 
who  died  April  15,  1719- 


PETEIl  THE  GREAT.  307, 

for  the  czarowitz  did  not  return  to  Moscow  till 
the  13th  of  February,  and  his  renunciation  in 
favour  of  the  empress  Catherine's  son  is  dated 
the  14th. 

The  prince  on  his  part  signed  his  renunciation, 
whereby  he  acknowledges  his  exclusion  to  be 
just,  as  having  merited  it  by  his  own  fault  and 
unworthiness  ;  '  And  I  do  hereby  swear,'  adds 
he,  '  in  presence  of  God  Almighty  in  the  Holy 
Trinity,  to  subrai*^  in  all  thmgs  to  my  father's 
will,'  Slc. 

These  instruments  being  signed,  the  czar  went 
in  procession  to  the  cathedral,  where  they  were 
read  a  second  time,  when  the  whole  body  of 
clergy  signed  their  approbation  with  their  seals 
at  the  bottom,  to  a  copy  prepared  for  that  pur- 
pose.' No  prince  was  ever  disinherited  in  so 
authentic  a  manner.     There  are  many  states  in 

•  At  tho  same  time  confirming  it  by  an  oath,  the  form 
of  which  was  asfollowt*  :  '  I  swear  before  Almighty  God, 
and  upon  his  holy  i^ospel,  that  whereas  our  most  gracious 
sovereign,  the  czar  Peter  Alexiowitz,  has  caused  circular 
letters  to  be  published  through  his  empire,  to  notify  thai 
he  has  thought  fit  to  exclude  Ins  son,  prince  Alexis  Pe- 
trowitz,  from  the  throne  of  Russia,  and  to  appoint  for  his 
successor  to  the  crown  his  second  son,  the  prince  royal 
Peter  Petrowitz  ;  I  do  acknowledge  this  order  and  regu- 
lation made  by  his  majesty  in  favour  of  the  said  princ« 
Peter  Petrowiiz,  to  ho  just  and  lawful,  and  entirely  con- 
form and  submit  myself  to  the  same  ;  promising  always 
to  acknowledge  the  said  prince  royal  Peter  Petrowitz  for 
big  lawful  successor,  and  to  stand  by  him  on  all  occa- 
sions, even  to  the  loss  of  my  life,  against  all  such  as 
■hall  presume  to  oppose  the  said  succession  ;  and  that  1 
nev*r  will,  on  any  pretence  whatsoever  assist  the  prince 
Alexi<»  Petrowitz,  nor  in  any  manner  whatsoever  contri- 
bate  to  procure  him  the  succession.  And  this  I  so- 
lemnly promise  by  my  oath  on  the  joly  gospel,  bi«<)ifig 
th«  holy  crost  thereupon.' 


308  HISTORY  OF 

which  an  act  of  this  kind  \^  luld  be  of  no  vali- 
ility  ;  but  ia  Russia,  as  in  ancient  Rome,  every 
father  has  a  power  of  depriving  his  son  of  his 
succession,  and  this  power  was  still  stronger  in  a 
sovereign  than  in  a  private  subject,  and  especi- 
ally in  such  a  sovereign  as  Peter. 

But;  nevertheless,  it  was  to  be  apprehended, 
that  those  who  had  encouraged  the  prince  in  his 
opposition  to  his  father's  will,  and  had  advised 
him  to  withdraw  himself  from  his  court,  might 
one  day  endeavour  to  set  aside  a  renunciation 
which  had  been  procured  by  force,  and  restore  to 
the  eldest  son  that  crown  which  had  been  vio- 
lently snatched  from  him  to  place  on  the  head 
of  a  younger  brother  by  a  second  marriage.  In 
this  case  it  was  easy  to  foresee  a  civil  war,  and  a 
total  subversion  of  all  the  great  and  useful  pro- 
jects which  Peter  had  so  much  laboured  to  esla- 
blish  ;  and  therefore  the  present  matter  in  ques- 
tion was  to  determine  between  the  welfare  of  near 
eighteen  millions  of  souls  (which  was  nearly  the 
number  which  the  empire  of  Russia  contained 
at  that  time),  and  the  interest  of  a  single  person 
incapable  of  governing.  Hence  it  became  ne- 
cessary to  find  out  those  who  were  disaffected, 
and  accordingly  the  czar  a  second  time  threat- 
ened his  son  with  the  most  fatal  consequences  if 
he  concealed  any  thing  :  and  the  prince  was 
obliged  to  undergo  a  judicial  examination  by  hia 
father,  and  afterwards  by  the  commissioners  ap- 
pointed for  that  purpose. 

One  principal  article  of  the  charge  brought 
against  him,  and  that  which  served  chiefly  to  his 
condemnation,  was,  a  letter  from  one  Beyer,  the 
emperor's  resident  at  the  ccart  of  Russia,  dated 
at  Petersh'.iicj,  after  the  flight  of  the  prince.  Thia 
letter  makes  mention  of  a  mutiny  in  the  Russian 
army  then  assembled  at  Mecklenburg,  and  thai 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  809 

several  officers  talked  of  clapping  up  Catherine 
and  her  son  in  the  prison  where  the  late  empress, 
whom  Peter  had  repudiated,  was  then  confined, 
and  of  pla:ing  the  czarowitz  on  the  throne,  as 
soon  as  he  could  be  found  out  and  brought 
back.  These  idle  projects  fell  to  the  ground  of 
themselves,  and  there  was  not  the  least  appr-ar- 
auce  that  Alexis  had  ever  countenanced  them. 
The  whole  was  only  a  piece  of  news  related  by  a 
foreigner  ;  the  letter  itself  was  not  directed  to 
the  prince,  ana  he  had  only  a  copy  thereof  trans- 
mitted him  while  at  Vienna. 

But  a  charge  of  a  more  grievous  nature  appear- 
ed against  him,  namely,  the  heads  of  a  letter 
written  with  his  own  hand,  and  which  he  ha.l 
sent,  while  at  the  court  of  Vienna,  to  the  senators 
and  prelates  of  Russia,  in  which  were  the  fol- 
lowing very  strong  assertions  : — '  The  continual 
ill-treatment  which  I  have  suffered  without  hav- 
ing deserved  it,  have  at  length  obliged  me  to 
consult  my  peace  and  safety  by  flight.  I  have 
narrowly  escaped  being  confined  in  a  convent, 
by  those  who  have  already  served  my  mother  in 
the  same  manner.  I  am  now  under  the  protec- 
tion of  a  great  prince,  and  I  beseech  vou  not  to 
abandon  me  in  this  conjuncture.' 

The  expression,  in  this  coujunctiire,  which 
might  be  construed  into  a  seditious  meaning,  ap- 
peared to  have  been  blotted  out,  and  then  in- 
aerted  again  by  his  own  hand,  and  afterwards 
blotted  out  a  second  time  :  which  shewed  it  to 
be  the  action  of  a  young  man  disturbed  in  bin 
mind,  following  the  dictates  of  his  resentment, 
and  repenting  of  it  at  the  very  instant.  There 
were  only  the  copies  of  these  letters  found ; 
they  were  never  sent  to  the  persoiis  they  were 
designed  for,  the  court  of  Vienna  having  taken 
care  to  stop  tliem  ;  a  convincing  proof  that  tli* 


310  HISTOR\   OF 

emperor  never  intended  to  break  with  the  czar, 
or  to  assist  the  son  to  take  up  arms  against  his 
father. 

Several  -witnesses  were  brought  to  confront  the 
prince,  and  one  of  them,  named  Afanassief,  de- 
posed, that  he  had  formerly  heard  him  speak 
ihppe  words, — '  I  shall  mention  something  to  the 
bishops,  who  will  mention  it  again  to  the  lower 
clergy,  and  they  to  the  parish  pjiests,  and  the 
crown  w  ill  be  placed  on  my  head  whether  I  will 
or  not.' 

His  own  mistress,  Aphrosyne,  was  likewise 
brought  to  give  evidence  against  him.  The 
charge,  however,  was  not  well  supported  in  all 
its  parts;  there  did  not  appear  to  have  been  any 
regular  plan  formed,  any  chain  of  intrigues,  or 
any  thing  like  a  conspiration  or  combination,  nor 
the  least  shadow  of  preparation  for  a  change  in 
the  government.  The  '-vhole  affair  was  that  of  a 
son,  of  a  depraved  and  factious  disposition,  who 
thought  himself  injured  by  his  father,  who  fled 
from  him,  and  who  w  ished  for  his  death ;  but 
this  son  was  heir  to  the  greatest  monarchy  incur 
hemisphere,  and  in  his  situation  and  place  be 
could  not  be  guilty  of  trivial  faults. 

After  the  accusations  of  his  mistress,  another 
witness  was  brought  against  him,  in  relation  to 
the  former  czarina  his  mother,  and  the  princess 
jMary  his  sister.  He  was  char^ied  with  having 
ironsulted  the  former  in  regard  to  his  flight,  and 
of  having  mentioned  it  to  the  princess  Mary. 
The  bishop  of  Rostow,  who  was  the  confidant  of 
all  three,  having  been  seized,  deposed,  that  the 
two  princesses,  who  were  then  shut  up  in  a  con- 
vent, had  expressed  their  wishes  for  a  n-volu- 
tion  in  affairs  that  might  restore  them  their  li» 
berty,  and  had  even  encouraged  the  prince,  hf 
clieir    advice,  to  withdra.v  himseh"  out  of  th<" 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  311 

kingdom.  The  more  natural  their  resentment 
was,  the  more  it  was  to  be  apprehended.  We 
shall  see,  at  the  end  of  this  chapter,  what  kind 
of  a  person  the  bishop  of  Rostow  was,  and  what 
had  been  his  conduct. 

The  czarowitz  at  first  denied  several  facts  of 
this  nature  which  were  alleged  against  him,  and 
by  this  very  behaviour  subjected  himself  to  the 
punishment  of  death,  with  which  his  father  had 
threatened  him  in  case  he  did  not  make  an  open 
and  sincere  confession. 

At  last,  however,  he  acknowledged  several 
disrespectful  expressions  against  his  father, 
which  were  laid  to  his  charge,  but  excused  him- 
self by  saying,  he  lr>d  been  hurried  away  by 
passion  and  drink. 

The  czar  himself  drew  up  several  new  interro- 
gations.    The  fourth  ran  as  follows  : — 

'  When  you  found  by  Beyer's  letter  that  there 
was  a  mutiny  among  the  troops  in  Mecklenburg, 
you  seemed  pleased  with  it ;  you  must  certainly 
have  had  some  reason  for  it ;  and  1  imagine  you 
woald  have  joined  the  rebels  even  during  my 
life-time  V 

i'his  was  interrogating  the  prince  on  the  sub- 
ject of  his  private  thoughts,  which,  though  they 
might  be  revealed  to  a  father,  who  may,  by  his 
advice,  correct  them,  yet  might  they  also  with 
justice  be  concealed  from  a  judge,  who  decides 
only  upon  acknowledged  facts.  The  private 
sentiments  of  a  man's  heart  have  nothing  to  do 
in  a  criminal  j)roce8s,  and  the  ])rince  was  at 
liberty  either  to  deny  them  or  disguise  them, 
in  such  manner  as  he  should  think  best  for  his 
own  safety,  as  being  under  no  obligation  to  lay 
open  his  heart,  and  yet  we  find  him  returning  the 
following  answer :  '  If  the  rebels  had  called 
upon  me  during  your  life-time,  1  do  verily  be- 


318  HISTORY  OF 

lieve  1  should  have  joined  them,  supposing  I  had 
found  them  suflBciently  strong.' 

It  is  hardly  conceivable  tliat  he  could  have 
made  this  reply  of  himself,  and  it  would  be  full 
fts  extraordinarv,  at  least  according  to  the  custom 
In  our  part  of  the  world,  to  condemn  a  person 
for  confessing  that  he  might  have  thought  in  a 
certain  manner  in  a  conjuncture  that  never 
happened. 

To  this  strange  confession  of  his  private 
thoughts,  which  had  till  then  been  concealed  in 
the  bottom  of  his  heart,  they  added  proofs  that 
rould  hardly  b«  admitted  as  such  in  a  court  of 
justice  in  any  other  country. 

The  prince,  sinking  under  his  misfortunes,  and 
almost  deprived  of  his  senses,  studied  within 
himself,  with  all  the  ingenuity  of  fear,  for  what- 
ever could  most  effectually  serve  for  his  destruc- 
tion ;  and  at  length  acknowledged,  that  in  pri- 
vate confession  to  the  archpriest  James,  he  had 
wished  his  father  dead ;  and  that  his  confessor 
made  answer,  '  God  will  pardon  you  tins  wish  •. 
we  all  wish  the  same.' 

The  canons  of  our  church  do  not  admit  of 
proofs  resulting  from  private  confession,  inas- 
much as  they  are  held  inviolable  secrets  between 
God  and  the  penitent :  and  both  the  Greek  and 
Latin  churches  are  agreed,  that  this  intimate  and. 
secret  correspondence  between  a  sinner  and  the 
Deity  are  beyond  the  cognizance  of  a  temporal 
court  of  justice.  But  here  the  welfare  of  a 
kingdom  and  a  king  were  concerned.  The  arch- 
priest,  being  put  to  the  torture,  confirmed  all 
that  the  prince  had  revealed  ;  and  this  trial  fur- 
nished the  unprecedented  instance  of  a  confessor 
accused  by  his  penitent,  and  that  penitent  by 
bis  own  mistress.  To  this  may  be  added  another 
singular  circumstance,  namely,  the  archbishop 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  313 

of  Rezan  having  been  involved  in  several  accu- 
sations on  account  of  having  spoken  too  favour- 
ably of  the  young  czarowitz  in  one  of  his  sermons, 
at  the  time  that  his  father's  resentment  first 
broke  out  against  him  ;  that  weak  prince  de- 
clared, in  his  answer  to  one  of  the  interroga- 
tions, that  he  had  depended  on  the  assistance  of 
that  prelate,  at  the  same  time  that  he  was  at  the 
head  of  the  ecclesiastical  court,  which  the  czar 
had  consulted  in  relation  to  this  criminal  pro- 
cess against  his  son,  as  we  bhall  see  in  the  course 
of  this  chapter. 

There  is  another  remark  to  be  made  in  this  ex- 
traordinary trial,  which  we  find  so  very  lamely 
related  in  the  absurd  History  of  Peter  the  Great, 
by  the  pretended  bojar  Nestersuranoy,  and  that 
is  the  following : 

Among  other  answers  which  the  czarowitz 
Alexis  made  to  the  first  question  put  to  him  by 
his  father,  he  acknowledges,  that  while  he  was 
at  Vienna,  finding  thai  he  could  not  be  admitted 
to  see  the  emperor,  he  applied  himself  to  count 
Schonborn,  the  high  chamberlain,  who  told  him, 
the  emperor  would  not  abandon  him,  and  that  as 
soon  as  occasion  should  offer,  by  the  death  of 
his  father,  that  he  would  assist  him  to  recover 
the  throne  by  force  of  arms.  '  Upon  which,' 
adds  the  prince,  '  I  made  him  the  following 
answer :  "  This  is  what  I  by  no  means  desire  :  if 
the  emperor  will  only  grant  me  his  protection 
for  the  present,  I  ask  no  more."  '  This  deposi- 
tion is  plain,  natural,  and  carries  with  it  strong 
marks  of  the  truth  ;  for  it  would  have  been  the 
height  of  madness  to  have  asked  the  emperor 
for  an  armed  force  to  dethrone  his  father, 
and  no  one  would  have  ventured  to  have  made 
such  an  absurd  proposal,  either  to  the  emperor, 
prince  Eugene,  or  to  the  council.  This  deposi- 
O 


314  HISTORY  OF 

tion  bears  date  in  the  month  of  February,  and 
four  months  afterwards,  namely,  after  the  lat  of 
July,  and  towards  the  latter  end  of  the  proceed- 
ings against  the  czarowitz,  that  prince  is  made 
to  say,  in  the  last  answers  he  delivered  in  writ- 
ing :— 

'  Being  unwilling  to  imitate  my  father  in  any 
thing,  I  endeavoured  to  secure  myself  the  suc- 
cession by  any  means  whatever,  excepting  such  as 
were  just.  1  attempted  to  get  it  by  a  foreign 
assistance;  and,  had  I  succeeded,  and  that  the 
emperor  had  fulfilled  what  he  had  promised  me,  to 
replace  me  on  the  throne  of  Russia  even  by  force 
of  arms,  I  would  have  left  nothing  undone  to 
have  got  possession  of  it.  For  instance,  if  the 
emperor  had  demanded  of  me,  in  return  for  his 
services,  a  body  of  my  own  troops  to  fight  for 
him  against  any  power  whatever,  that  might  be 
in  arms  against  him,  or  a  large  sum  of  money 
to  defray  the  charges  of  a  war,  I  should  have 
readily  granted  every  tbing  he  asked,  and  should 
have  gratified  his  ministers  and  generals  with 
magnificent  presents.  I  would  at  my  own  ex- 
pense have  maintained  the  auxiliary  troops  he 
might  have  furnished  to  put  me  in  possession  of 
the  crown  ;  and,  in  a  word,  I  should  have  thought 
nothing  too  much  to  have  accomplished  my  ends.' 

This  answer  seems  greatly  strained,  and  ap- 
pears as  if  the  unhappy  deponent  was  exerting 
his  utmost  efforts  to  appear  more  culpable  than 
he  really  was  ;  nay,  he  seems  to  have  spoken 
absolutely  contrary  to  truth  in  a  capital  point. 
He  says  the  emperor  had  promised  to  procure 
him  the  cro.vn  by  foree  of  arms.  This  is  ab- 
solutely false  :  Schonborn  had  given  him  hopes 
that,  after  the  death  of  his  father,  the  emperor 
might  assist  him  to  recover  his  birth-right ;  but 
the  emperor  himself  never  made  him  any  pro- 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  315 

mise.  And  lastly,  the  matter  in  question  wa« 
not  if  he  should  take  arms  against  his  father,  but 
if  he  should  succeed  him  after  his  death! 

By  this  last  deposition  he  declares  what  he 
believes  he  should  have  done,  had  he  been  ob- 
liged to  dispute  his  birth-right,  vrhich  he  had 
not  formally  renounced  till  after  his  journey  to 
Vienna  and  Naples.  Here  then  we  have  a 
second  deposition,  not  of  any  thing  he  had  al- 
ready done,  and  the  actual  commission  of  which, 
would  have  subjected  him  to  the  rigorous  in- 
quiry of  the  law,  but  of  what  he  imagines  he 
should  have  done  had  occasion  offered,  and 
which  consequently  is  no  subject  of  a  juridical 
inquiry-  Thus  does  he  twice  together  accuse 
himself  of  private  thoughts  that  he  might  have 
entertained  in  a  future  time.  The  known  world 
does  not  produce  an  instance  of  a  man  tried 
and  condemned  for  vague  and  inconsequential 
notions  that  came  into  his  head,  and  which  he 
never  communicated  to  any  one  ;  nor  is  there 
a  court  of  justice  in  Europe  that  will  hear  a 
man  accuse  himself  of  criminal  thoughts  ;  nay, 
we  believe  that  they  are  not  punished  by  God 
himself,  unless  accompanied  by  a  fixed  resolu- 
tion to  put  them  in  practice. 

To  these  natural  reflections  it  may  be  an- 
swered, that  the  czarowitz  had  given  his  father 
a  just  right  to  punish  him,  by  having  withheld 
the  names  of  several  of  the  accomplices  of  hig 
flight.  His  pardon  was  promised  him  only  on 
condition  of  making  a  full  and  open  confession, 
which  he  did  not  till  it  was  too  late.  Lastly, 
after  so  public  an  affair,  it  was  not  in  human 
nature  that  Alexis  should  ever  forgive  a  brother 
in  favour  of  whom  he  had  been  disinherited ; 
therefore,  it  was  thought  better  to  punish  one 
guilty  person,  than  to  expose  a  whole  nation  to 


316  HISTORY  OF 

danger,  and  herein  the  rigour  of  justice  and  rea- 
sons of  state  acted  iu  concert. 

We  must  not  judge  of  the  manners  and  laws  of 
one  nation  b^-  those  of  others.  The  czar  was 
possessed  cf  the  fatal,  but  incontestable  right  of 
punishing  his  son  ■with  death,  for  the  single  crime 
of  having  withdrawn  himself  out  of  the  kingdom 
against  his  consent ;  and  he  thus  explains  himself 
in  his  declaration  addressed  to  the  prelates  and 
others,  who  composed  the  high  courts  of  justice. 
'  Th.ugh,  according  to  all  laws,  civil  and  divine; 
and  especially  those  of  this  empire,  which  grant 
an  absolute  jurisdiction  to  fathers  over  their 
children  (even  fathers  in  private  life)  we  have 
a  full  and  unlimited  power  to  judge  our  son  for 
his  crimen  according  to  our  pleasure,  without 
asking  the  advice  of  any  person  whatsoever;  yet, 
as  men  are  more  liable  to  prejudice  and  partiality 
in  their  own  affairs,  than  in  those  of  others,  and 
as  the  most  eminent  and  expert  physicians  rely 
not  on  their  judgment  concerning  themselves,  but 
call  in  the  advice  and  assistance  of  others ;  so 
we,  under  the  fear  of  God,  and  an  awful  dread  of 
offending  him,  in  like  manner  make  known  our 
disease,  and  apply  to  you  for  a  cure;  being  ap- 
'^'ehensive  cf  eternal  death,  if  ignorant  perhaps 
I  f  the  nature  of  our  distemper,  we  should  attempt 
to  cure  ourselves  ;  and  the  rather  as  in  a  solemn 
appeal  to  Almighty  God,  I  have  signed,  3wom» 
and  confirmed  a  promise  of  pardon  to  my  son,  in 
case  he  should  declare  to  me  the  truth. 

'  And  though  he  has  violated  this  promise,  by 
concealing  the  most  important  circumstances  of 
his  rebellious  design  against  us  ;  yet  that  we  may 
not  in  an)  thing  swerve  from  our  obligations,  we 
pray  you  to  consider  this  affair  with  seriousness 
and  attention,  nnd  report  what  punishment  he 
deserves  without  favour  or  partiality  either  to  him 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  317 

or  me  ;  for  should  you  apprehend  that  he  deserves 
but  a  slight  punishment,  it  will  be  disagreeable 
to  me.  I  swear  to  you  by  the  great  God  and  his 
judgments,  that  you  have  notliing  to  fear  on  this 
head. 

'  Neitlier  let  the  reflection  of  your  being  to  pass 
sentence  on  the  son  of  your  prince  have  any  in- 
fluence on  you,  but  administer  justice  without 
respec*  of  persons,  and  destroy  not  your  own 
souls  and  mine  also,  by  doing  any  thing  to  injure 
our  country,  or  upbraid  our  consciences  in  the 
great  and  terrible  day  of  judgment. ' 

The  czar  afterwards  addressed  himself  to  the 
clergy,*  by  another  declaration  to  the  same  pur- 
pose; so  that  every  thing  was  transacted  in  the 
most  authentic  manner,  and  Peter's  behaviour 
through  the  whole  of  this  afi'air  was  so  open  and 

•  His  declaration  to  the  clergy  concluded  in  this  man- 
ner : — '  Though  this  affair  does  not  fall  within  the  verge 
of  the  spiritual,  but  of  the  civil  jurisdiction,  and  we  have 
this  day  referred  it  to  the  imperial  decision  of  the  secular 
court,  but  remembering  that  passage  in  the  word  of  God, 
which  requires  us  on  such  occasions  to  consult  the  priests 
and  elders  of  the  church,  in  order  to  know  the  will  of 
Heaven,  and  being  desirous  of  receiving  all  possible  in- 
structions in  a  matter  of  such  importance,  we  desire  of 
you,  the  archbishops,  and  the  whole  ecclesiastical  state, 
as  teachers  of  tlie  word  of  God,  not  to  pronounce  judg- 
ment in  this  case,  but  to  examine  and  give  us  your  opinion 
concerning  it,  according  to  the  sacred  oracles,  from  whom 
we  ma3'  be  best  informed  what  punishment  my  son  de- 
serves, and  that  j-ou  will  give  it  us  iu  writiog  under  yoar 
hands,  that  being  properly  instructed  herein,  we  may  lay 
no  burthen  on  our  conscience.  We  therefore  repose  our 
confidence  in  you,  that,  as  guardians  of  the  divine  laws,  as 
faithful  pastors  of  the  Christian  flock,  and  as  well  affected 
t3ward8  your  country,  you  will  act  suitable  to  your  dig- 
nity, conjuring  you  by  that  dignitj',  and  the  holiness  ot 
your  function,  to  proceed  withou:  fear  or  dissimulation. 


318  HISTORY  OF 

andisguised,  as  shewed  him  to  be  fully  satisfied 
of  the  justice  of  his  cause. 

On  the  first  of  July  the  clergy  delivered  their 
opinion  in  writing.  In  fact,  it  was  their  opinion 
only,  and  not  a  judgment,  which  the  czar  required 
of  them.  The  beginning  is  deserving  the  atten- 
tion cf  all  Europe. 

*  This  affair  (say  the  prelates  and  the  rest  of  the 
clergy)  does  in  no  wise  fall  within  the  verge  of 
the  ecclesiastical  court,  nor  is  the  absolute  power 
invested  in  the  sovereign  of  the  Russian  empire 
subject  to  the  cognizance  of  his  people  ;  but  he 
has  au  unlimited  powrr  of  acting  herein  as  to 
him  shall  seem  best,  without  any  inferior  having 
a  right  to  intermeddle  therein.' 

Afier  their  preamble  they  proceed  to  cite 
several  texts  of  scripture,  particularly  Leviticus, 
wherein  it  is  said,  '  Cursed  be  he  that  curseth  his 
father  or  mother  ;'  and  the  gospel  of  St.  Matthew, 
which  repeats  this  severe  denunciation.  And 
they  concluded,  after  several  other  quotations,* 
with  these  remarkable  words  : 

•  Besides  the  particular  passages  in  holy  writ  cited  on 
this  occasion,  which  were,  Levit.  sx.  1,  9-  Dent.  xxxi. 
Matt.  TX.  1.  Mark  vii.  9.  Rom.  i.  28.  Ephes  vi.  1.  those 
from  the  constitutions  of  the  empire  were  as  follows  :  *  If 
any  person,  by  any  ill  design,  forms  any  attempt  against 
the  health  of  the  czar,  or  does  any  thing  to  his  prejudice, 
and  is  found  inclined  to  execute  his  pernicious  designs, 
let  hioi  be  put  to  death,  after  he  is  convicted  (hereof.* 
Stat.l.  '  la  like  manner,  if  any  ODt,  during  the  reign  of 
his  czarian  majesty,  through  a  desire  \o  reign  in  the  empire 
of  Russia,  and  put  the  czar  to  death,  shall  begin  to  raise 
troops  with  this  pernicious  view  ;  or  if  any  one  shall  form 
an  alliance  with  the  enemies  of  his  czarian  majesty,  or 
hold  a  correspondence  with  th^m,  or  assist  ihemlo  arrije 
at  the  goTernment,  or  raise  any  other  disorder  ;  if  any  one 
declare  it,  and  the  truth  be  found  out  upon  such  declara- 
UoQ,  lei  the  traitor  suffer  death  npon  conviction   of  tlM 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  319 

•  If  his  majesty  is  inclinable  to  puuish  the  of- 
fender according  to  his  deeds  and  the  measure  of 
his  crimes,  he  has  before  him  the  examples  in  the 
Old  Testament  ;  if  on  the  other  hand,  he  is  in- 
clined to  shew  mercy,  he  has  a  pattern  in  our 
Lord  Jesus  Clirist,  who  receives  the  prodigal  son, 
when  returning  with  a  contrite  heart,  who  set 
free  the  woman  taken  in  adultery,  whom  the  law 
sentenced  to  be  stoned  to  death,  and  who  prefers 
mercy  to  burnt-oflferings.  He  has  likewise  the 
example  of  David,  who  spared  his  son  Absalom, 
who  had  rebelled  against  and  persecuted  him, 
saying  to  his  captains,  when  going  forth  to  the 
fight,  "  Spare  my  son  Absalom."  The  father  was 
here  inclinable  to  mercy,  but  divine  Justice  suf- 
fered not  the  offender  to  go  unpunished. 

'  The  heart  of  the  czar  is  in  the  hands  of  God  ; 
let  him  take  that  side  to  which  it  shall  please  the 
Almighty  to  direct  him.' 

This  opinion  was  signed  by  eight  archbishops 
and  bishops,  four  archpriests,  and  two  professors 
of  divinity  ;  and,  as  we  have  already  observed, 
the  metropolitan  archbishop  of  Rezan,  the  same 

treason.'  Stat.  2.  From  the  military  laws  the  following 
citations  were  made  ;  chap.  3.  art.  19-  '  If  any  subject 
raises  men,  and  takes  up  arms  against  the  czanan  ma- 
jesty ;  or  if  any  person  forms  a  design  of  takin;;  his  majesty 
prisoner,  or  killing  him  ;  or  if  he  offers  any  violence  to 
him;  he  and  all  his  abettors  and  adherents  shall  be  quar- 
tered, as  guiltj'  of  treason,  and  their  goods  confiscated.' 
To  which  article  ilie  following  explanation  was  added: 
'They  also  shall  suffer  the  ssme  punishment,  who,  though 
thejr  have  not  been  able  to  execute  their  crime,  shall  be 
nonvictcd  of  inclination  and  desire  to  commit  it ;  and  like- 
wise, those  who  shall  not  have  discovered  it  when  it  came 
to  their  knowledge,'  chap.  26.  an.  37-  '  He  who  forms  a 
design  of  co.TQmitiing  any  treason,  or  any  other  matter  of 
the  like  nature,  shaU  be  punished  with  the  same  ca 
punishmeats  as  if  he  bad  actually  executed  hia  deeigs.' 


S20  HISTORY  OF 

with  whom  the  prince  had  held  a  correspondence, 
was  the  first  who  signed. 

As  soon  as  the  clergy  had  signed  this  opinion, 
they  presented  it  to  the  czar.  It  is  easy  to  per- 
ceive that  this  body  was  desirous  of  inclining 
his  mind  to  clemency  ;  and  nothing  can  be  more 
beautiful  than  the  contrast  between  the  mercy  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  the  rigour  of  the  Jewish  law, 
placed  before  the  eyes  of  a  father,  who  was  the 
prosecutor  of  his  oAvn  son. 

The  same  day  the  czarowitz  was  again  exa- 
mined for  the  last  time,  and  signed  his  final  con- 
fession in  writing,  wherein  he  acknowledges  him- 
self '  to  have  been  a  bigot  in  his  youthful  days, 
to  have  frequented  the  company  of  priests  and 
monks,  to  have  drank  with  ihem,  and  to  have 
imbibed  from  their  conversations  the  first  impres- 
sions of  dislike  to  the  duties  of  his  station,  and 
even  to  the  person  of  his  father.' 

If  he  made  this  confession  of  his  own  accord, 
it  shews  that  he  must  have  been  ignorant  of  the 
mild  advice  the  body  of  clergy,  whom  he  thns 
accuses,  had  lately  given  his  father  ;  and  it  is  a 
still  stronger  proof,  how  great  a  change  the  czar 
had  wrought  in  the  manners  of  the  clergy  of  his 
time,  who,  from  a  state  of  the  most  deplorable 
ignorance,  were  in  so  short  a  time  become  capa- 
ble of  drawing  up  a  writing,  which  for  its  wis- 
dom and  eloquence  might  have  been  owned, 
without  a  blush,  by  the  most  illustrious  fathers 
of  the  church. 

It  is  in  this  last  confession  that  the  czarowitz 
made  that  declaration  on  which  we  have  alreadj 
commented,  viz.  that  he  endeavoured  to  secure 
to  himself  the  succession  by  any  means  what- 
ever, except  such  as  were  just. 

One  would  imagine,  by  this  last  confession, 
that  the  prince  was  apprehensive  he  had  not  rea- 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  321 

dered  himself  sufficiently  criminal  in  the  eyes  of 
his  judges,  by  his  former  self-accusations,  and 
that,  by  giving  himself  the  character  of  a  dissem- 
bler and  a  bad  man,  and  supposing  how  he  might 
have  acted  had  he  been  the  master,  he  was  care- 
fully studying  how  to  justify  the  fatal  sentence 
which  was  about  to  be  pronounced  against  him, 
and  which  was  done  on  the  jth  of  July.  This 
sentence  will  be  found,  at  length,  at  the  end  of 
this  volume  ;  therefore,  we  shall  only  observe  in 
this  place  that  it  begins,  like  the  opinion  of  the 
clergy,  by  declaring,  that '  it  belongs  not  to  sub- 
jects to  take  cognizance  of  such  an  affair,  which 
depends  solely  on  the  absolute  will  of  the  sove- 
reign, whose  authority  is  derived  from  God 
alone;'  and  then,  after  having  set  forth  the  se- 
veral articles  of  the  charge  brought  against  the 
prince,  the  judges  express  themselves  thus  : 
'  What  shall  we  think  of  a  rebellious  design,  al- 
most unparalleled  in  history,  jqined  to  that  of  a 
horrid  parricide  against  him,  who  was  his  father 
in  a  double  capacity?' 

Probably  these  words  have  been  wrong  trans- 
lated from  the  trial  printed  by  order  of  the  czar  ; 
for  certainly  there  have  been  instances  in  history 
of  much  greater  rebellions  ;  and  no  part  of  the 
proceedings  against  the  czarowitz  discover  any 
design  in  him  of  killing  his  father.  Perhaps,  by 
the  word  parricide,  is  understood  the  deposition 
made  by  the  prince,  that  one  day  he  declared  at 
confession,  that  he  had  wished  for  the  death  of 
his  father.  But,  how  can  a  private  declaration 
of  a  secret  thought,  under  the  seal  of  confession, 
be  a  -double  parricide  ? 

Be  this  as  it  may,  the  czarowitz  was  unani- 
mously condemned  to  die,  but  no  mention  was 
made  in  the  sentence  of  tiie  nianner  in  which  be 
was  to  puffer.  Of  one  hundred  and  forty  four 
O   L' 


322  HISTORY  OF 

judges,  there  was  not  one  who  thought  of  alessei 
punishment  than  death.  Whereas,  an  English 
tract,  which  made  a  great  noise  at  that  time,  ob- 
serves, that  if  such  a  cause  had  been  brought  be- 
fore an  English  parliament,  there  would  not  have 
been  one  judge  out  of  one  hundred  and  forty-four, 
that  would  have  inflicted  even  a  penalty. 

There  cannot  be  a  stronger  proof  of  the  differ- 
ence of  times  and  places.  The  consul  Maniius 
would  have  been  condemned  by  the  laws  of  Eng- 
land to  lose  his  own  life,  for  having  put  his  son 
to  death  :  whereas  he  was  admired  and  extolled 
for  that  action  by  the  rigid  Romans  :  but  the 
same  laws  would  not  punish  a  prince  of  Wales 
for  leaving  the  kingdom,  who,  as  a  peer  of  the 
realm,  has  a  right  to  go  and  come  when  he 
pleases.*  A  criminal  design,  not  perpetrated, 
is  not  punishable  by  the  laws  in  England  t  or 
France,  but  it  is  in  Russia.  A  continued  formal 
and  repealed  disc^bedience  of  commands  would, 
amongst  us,  be  considered  only  an  error  in  con- 
duct, \\hich  ought  to  be  suppressed  ;  but,  in  Rus- 
sia^ it  was  judged  a  capital  crime  in  the  heir  oi 
a  great  empire,  whose  ruin  might  have  been  the 
consequence  of  that  disobedience.  Lastly,  the 
czarowitzwas  culpable  towards  the  whole  nation, 
by  his  design  of  throwing  h  hack  into  that  state 
of  darkness  and  ignorance,  from  which  his  father 
had  so  latelv  delivered  it. 

;5uch  was  the  acknowledged  power  of  the  czar, 
that  he  might  put  his  sou  to  death  for  disobedj- 
"nce  to  him,  without  consulting  any  one  ;  nev»^r- 

•  M.  de  Voltaire  is  mistaken  in  this  point ;  for,  by  onr 
laws,  no  peer  of  the  realm  can  absent  himself  from  ihr 
service  of  the  parliament  during  its  session,  without  th« 
liberi/  of  the  Icir.q:  or  the  house. 

•t  This  is  another  mistake  ;  for  it  is  death  by  oor  law 
10  compass  or  imagine  the  death  of  the  sover«ig». 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  323 

theless,  he  submitted  the  affair  to  the  judgmeat 
of  the  representatives  of  the  nation,  so  that  it 
■was  in  fact  the  nation  itself  who  passed  sentence 
on  the  prince  ;  and  Peter  was  so  well  satisfied 
with  the  equity  of  his  own  conduct,  that  he  volun  • 
tarily  submitted  it  to  the  judgment  of  every  other 
nation,  by  causing  the  whole  proceedings  to  be 
printed  and  translated  into  several  languages. 

The  law  of  history  would  not  permit  us  to  dis- 
guise or  palliate  aught  in  the  relation  of  this 
tragic  event.  All  Europe  was  divided  in  its  sen- 
timents, whether  most  to  pity  a  young  prince, 
prosecuted  by  his  own  father,  and  condemned  to 
Jose  his  life,  by  those  who  were  one  day  to  have 
been  his  subjects  ;  or  the  father,  who  thought 
himself  under  a  necessity  to  sacrifice  his  own  son 
to  the  welfare  of  his  nation. 

It  was  asserted  in  several  books,  published  on 
this  subject,  that  the  czar  sent  to  Spain  for  a  copy 
of  the  proceedings  against  Don  Carlos,  wlio  bad 
been  condemned  to  death  by  his  father,  king 
Philip  II.  But  this  is  false,  inasmuch  as  Don 
Carlos  was  never  brought  to  his  trial  :  the  con- 
duct of  Peter  I.  was  totally  different  from  that 
of  Philip.  The  Spanish  monarch  never  made 
known  to  the  world  the  reasons  for  which  he  had 
confined  his  son,  nor  in  what  manner  that  prince 
died.  He  wrote  letters  on  this  occasion  to  the 
pope  and  the  empress,  which  were  absolutely 
contradictory  to  each  other.  William  prince  of 
Orange  accused  Philip  publicly  of  having  sacri- 
ficed his  son  and  his  wife  to  his  jealousy,  and  to 
have  behaved  rather  like  a  jealous  and  cruel  hus- 
band, and  an  unnatural  and  murderous  father, 
than  a  severe  and  upright  judge.  Philip  suffered 
this  accusation  against  him  to  pass  unanswered: 
Peter,  on  the  contrary,  did  nothing  but  in  the  eye 
of  the  wo:ld ;  he  openlj  declared,  that  he  pre- 


3S4  HISTORY  OF 

ferred  his  people  to  his  own  son,  submittei  his 
cause  to  the  judgment  of  the  principal  persons 
of  his  kingdom,  and  made  the  whjle  world  the 
judge  of  their  proceedings  and  his  o^-n. 

There  was  another  extraordinary  circumstance 
attending  this  unhappy  aflfair,  which  was,  that 
the  empress  Catherine,  who  was  hated  by  the 
czarowitz,  and  whom  he  had  publicly  threatened 
with  the  worst  of  treatment,  whenever  he  should 
mount  the  throne,  was  not  in  any  way  accessary 
to  his  misfortunes ;  and  was  neither  accused,  nor 
even  suspected  by  any  foreign  minister  residing  at 
the  court  of  Russia,  of  having  taken  the  least  step 
against  a  son-in-law,  from  whom  she  had  so 
much  to  fear.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  no  one 
pretends  to  say  she  interceded  with  the  czar  for 
his  pardon  :  but  all  the  accounts  of  these  times, 
and  especially  those  of  the  count  de  Bassewitz, 
agree,  that  she  was  greatly  aflfected  with  his 
misfortunes. 

I  have  now  before  me  the  memoirs  of  a  public 
minister,  in  which  I  find  the  following  words  : 

•  I  was  present  when  the  czar  told  the  duke  of 
Holstein,  that  the  czarina  Catherine,  had  begged 
of  him  to  prevent  the  sentence  passed  upon  the 
czarowitz,  being  i  ublicly  read  to  that  prince. 

•  Content  yourself,'  said  she,  '  with  obliging  him 
to  turn  monk  ;  for  this  public  and  formal  con- 
demnation of  your  son  will  reflect  an  odium  on 
your  grandson.' 

The  czar,  however,  would  not  hearken  to  the 
intercession  of  his  spouse  ;  he  thought  there  was 
a  necessity  to  have  the  sentence  publicly  read  to 
the  prince  himself,  in  order  that  he  might  have 
no  pretence  left  to  dis;  ute  this  solemn  act,  in 
which  he  himself  acquiesced,  and  that  being  dead 
in  law,  he  could  never  after  claim  a  right  to  the 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  323 

Nevertheless,  if,  after  the  death  of  Peter,  a 
formidable  party  had  arose  in  favour  of  Alexis, 
would  his  being  dead  )n  law  have  prevented  him 
from  ascending  the  throne  1 

The  prince  then  had  his  sentence  read  to  him  : 
and  the  memoirs  I  have  just  mentioned  observe, 
that  he  fell  into  a  fit  on  hearing  these  words  : 
'  The  laws  divine  and  ecclesiastical,  civil  and 
tuilitary,  condemn  to  death,  without  mercy,  those 
vrhose  attempts  against  their  father  and  their 
sovereign  have  been  fully  proved.'  These  fits  it 
is  said,  turned  to  an  apoplexy,  and  it  was  with 
great  difficulty  he  was  recovered  at  that  time. 
Afterwards,  when  he  came  a  little  to  himself, 
and  in  the  dreadful  interval,  between  life  and 
death,  he  sent  for  his  father  to  come  to  him  :  the 
czar  accordingly  went,  acd  both  father  and  son 
burst  into  a  flood  of  tears,  llie  unhappy  culprit 
asked  his  offended  parent's  forijiveness,  which  be 
gave  him  publicly  :  then,  being  in  the  agonies  of 
dealh,  ext'reme  unction  was  administered  to  him 
in  the  most  solemn  manner,  and  soon  after  be  ex- 
pired in  the  jire.sence  of  the  whole  court,  the  day 
after  the  fatal  sentence  had  been  pronounced 
upon  him.  His  Ixxly  was  immediately  carried 
to  the  cathedral,  where  it  lay  in  state,  exposed  to 
public  view  for  four  days,  alter  vhich  it  was  in- 
terred in  tlie  church  of  tlie  citadel,  by  the  side  of 
his  late  princess;  the  czar  and  czarina  assisting 
at  the  funeral. 

And  here  1  think  myself  indispensably  obliged 
to  imitate,  in  some  measure,  the  conduct  of  the 
crar  ;  that  is  to  say,  to  submit  to  the  judgment 
of  the  public,  the  several  facts  which  J  have  re- 
lated with  t.ie  most  scrupulous  exactness,  and  not 
only  the  facts  themselves,  but  likewise  the  va- 
rious reports  which  were  propagated  in  relatioa 
to  them,  by  author*  oi  the  fir«t  credit.  Lamberti, 


sue  HISTORY  OF 

the  most  impartial  of  any  -writer  on  this  subject 
and  at  the  same  lime  the  most  exact,  and  who 
has  confined  himself  to  tlie  simple  narrative  of  the 
original  and  authentic  pieces,  relating  to  the  af- 
fairs of  Kurope,  seems  in  this  matter  to  have  de- 
parted from  that  impartiality  and  discernment  for 
which  he  is  so  remarkable  ;  for  he  thus  expresses 
himself. 

'  The  czarina,  ever  anxious  for  the  fortune  of 
her  own  son,  did  not  suffer  the  czar  to  rest  till 
she  had  obliged  him  to  commence  the  proceed- 
ings against  the  czarow-itz,  and  to  prosecute  that 
unhappy  prince  to  death  :  and,  what  is  still  more 
extraordinary,  the  czar,  after  having  given  him 
the  knout  * -which  is  a  kind  of  torture^  with  his 
0T\Ti  hand,  was  himself  his  executioner,  by  cutting 
off  his  head,  -which  was  afterwards  so  artfully 
joined  to  the  body,  that  the  separation  could  not 
be  perceived,  when  it  was  exposed  to  public 
view.  Some  little  time  afterwards,  the  czarina's 
son  died,  to  the  inexpressible  regret  of  her  and 
the  czar.  This  latter,  whu  had  beheaded  his  own 
son,  coming  now  to  reflect,  that  he  had  no  suc- 
cessor, grew  exceedingly  lil-tempered.  Much 
about  that  time  also,  he  was  informed,  that  his 
spouse,  the  czarina,  was  engaged  in  a  secret  and 
criminal  correspondence  with  prince  Menzikoff. 
This,  joined  to  the  reflection,  that  she  had  been 
the  cause  of  his  putting  to  death  with  his  own 
hand  his  eldest  son,  made  him  conceive  a  design 
to  strip  her  of  the  imperial  honours,  and  shut  hei 
up  in  a  convent,  in  the  same  manner  as  he  had 
done  his  first  wife,  who  is  still  living  there.  It 
"was  a  custom  with  the  czar  to  keep  a  kind  ol 
diary  of  his  private  thoughts  in  his  pocket  book, 
and  he  had  accordingly  entered  therein  a  memo- 
randum of  this  his  intention.  The  czarina  having 
found  mea:;s  to  oaia  over  to  her  interest  all  tha 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  327 

pnges  of  the  czar's  bed-chamber,  one  of  them 
finding  his  pocket-book,  which  he  had  carelessly 
left  on  the  table,  brought  it  to  Catherine,  who 
upon  reading  this  memorandum,  immediately 
sent  for  prince  Menzikoff,  and  communicated  it 
to  him,  and,  in  a  day  or  two  afterwards,  the  czar 
was  seized  with  a  violent  distemper,  of  which  he 
died.  Jhis  distemper  was  attributed  to  poison, 
on  account  of  its  being  so  sudden  and  violent, 
that  it  could  not  be  supposed  to  proceed  from  a 
uatural  cause,  and  that  the  horrible  act  of  poison 
ing  was  but  too  frequently  used  in  Russia.' 

These  accusations,  thus  handed  down  by  Lam- 
berti,  were  soon  spread  throughout  Europe;  and, 
as  there  still  exist  a  great  number  of  pieces,  both 
in  print  and  manuscript,  which  may  give  a  sanc- 
tion to  the  belief  of  this  fact  to  the  latest  poste- 
rity, I  think  ii  is  ray  duty  to  mention,  in  this 
place,  what  is  come  to  my  knowledge  from  un- 
exceptionable authority. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  I  take  it  upon  me  to 
declare,  that  the  person  who  furnished  Lam- 
berti  with  this  strange  anecdote,  was  in  fact  a 
native  of  Russia,  but  of  a  foreign  extraction,  and 
who  himsflf  did  not  reside  in  that  country,  at  the 
time  this  event  happened,  having  left  it  several 
years  before.  I  was  formerly  acquainted  with 
him  ;  he  had  been  in  company  v-ith  Lamberti, 
at  the  little  town  of  Nyon,*  whither  that  writer 
had  retired,  and  where  I  myself  have  often  been, 
'J'his  very  n>an  declared  to  me,  that  he  bad 
never  told  this  story  to  Lamberti,  but  in  the  light 
of  a  report,  which  had  been  handed  about  at  that 
time. 

This  example  may  suffice  to  shew,  how  easy  it 

*  Or  Kions,  the  capital  of  MoDtauban,  in  Dauphiue, 
in  France,  situate  on  the  river  Aigues,  over  which  is  a 
briilge,  said  to  be  a  Roman  work. 


328  HISTORY  OF 

was  in  former  times,  before  the  art  of  printing 
was  found  out,  for  one  man  to  destroy  the  repu- 
tation of  another,  in  the  minds  of  vsliole  nations^ 
by  reason  that  manuscript  histories  were  in  a  few 
hands  only,  and  not  exposed  to  general  exami- 
nation and  censure,  or  of  the  observations  of  con- 
temporaries, as  they  now  are.  A  single  line  in 
Tacitus  or  Sallust,  nay,  even  in  the  authors  of  the 
most  fabulous  legends  was  enough  to  render  a 
great  prince  odious  to  the  half  of  mankind,  and 
to  perpetuate  his  name  with  infamy  to  successive 
generations. 

How  was  it  possible  that  the  czar  could  have 
beheaded  his  son  with  his  own  hand,  when  ex- 
treme unction  was  administered  to  the  latter  in 
the  presence  of  the  whole  court  ?  Was  he  dead 
when  the  sacred  oil  was  poured  upon  his  head  1 
When  or  how  could  this  dissevered  head  have 
been  rejoined  to  its  trunk  1  It  is  notorious,  that 
the  prince  was  not  left  alone  a  single  moment, 
from  the  first  reading  of  his  sentence  to  him  to 
the  instant  of  his  death. 

Besides,  tins  story  of  the  czar's  having  had  re- 
course to  the  sword,  acquits  him  at  least  of  hav- 
ing made  use  of  poison.  I  will  allow,  that  it  is 
somewhat  uncommon,  that  a  young  nian  in  the 
vigour  of  his  days  should  die  of  a  sudden  fright, 
occasioned  by  hearing  the  sentence  of  his  own 
death  read  to  him,  and  especially  when  it  was  a 
sentence  that  he  expected  ;  but,  after  all,  physi- 
cians will  tell  us  that  this  is  not  a  thing  impos- 
sible. 

If  the  czar  dispatched  his  son  by  poison,  as  so 
many  authors  would  persuade  us,  he  by  that 
means  deprived  himself  of  every  advantage  he 
might  expect  from  this  fatal  process,  in  convincing 
all  Europe  that  he  had  a  right  to  punish  every 
delinquent.  He  rendered  all  the  reasons  for  pro- 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  S29 

nouncing  the  condemnation  of  the  czarowitz  sus- 
pected ;  and,  in  fact,  accused  himself.  If  he  was 
desirous  of  the  death  of  his  son,  he  was  hi  pos- 
session of  full  power  to  have  caused  the  sentence 
to  be  put  in  execution  :  would  a  man  of  any  pru- 
dence then,  would  a  sovereign,  ou  whom  the 
eyes  of  all  his  neighbours  were  fixed,  have  taken 
the  base  and  dastardly  method  of  poisoning  the 
person,  over  whose  devoted  head  he  himself  al- 
ready held  the  sword  of  justice  ?  Lastly,  would 
he  have  suffered  his  memory  to  have  been  trans- 
mitted to  posterity  as  nn  assassin  and  a  poisoner, 
when  he  could  so  easily  have  assumed  the  cha- 
racter of  an  upright  though  severe  judge  1 

It  appears  then,  from  all  that  has  been  deli- 
vered on  this  subject  in  the  preceding  pages,  that 
Peter  was  more  the  king  than  the  parent  ;  and 
that  he  sacrificed  his  own  son  to  the  sentiments 
of  the  father  and  lawgiver  of  his  country,  and  to 
the  interest  of  his  people,  who,  without  this 
wholesome  severity,  were  on  the  verge  of  re- 
lapsing again  into  that  state  from  which  he  had 
taken  them.  It  is  evident  that  he  did  not  sa- 
crifice this  son  to  the  ambition  of  a  step-mother, 
or  to  the  son  he  had  by  her,  since  he  had  often 
threatened  the  czarowitz  to  disinherit  him,  be- 
fore Catherine  brought  him  that  other  son,  whose 
infirm  infancy  gave  signs  of  a  speedy  death, 
which  actually  happened  in  a  very  short  time 
afterwards.  Had  Peter  taken  this  important 
step  merely  to  please  his  wife,  he  must  have 
been  a  fool,  a  madman,  or  a  coward  ;  neither  of 
which,  most  certainly,  could  be  laid  to  his  charge. 
But  he  foresaw  what  would  be  the  fate  of  his  es- 
tablishments, and  of  Ids  new-born  nation,  if  he 
had  such  a  successor  as  wouKl  not  adopt  hia 
views,  'ihe  event  has  verified  this  foresight  • 
the  Russian  empire  is  become  famous  and  re* 


330  HISTORY  OF 

special  fe  throughout  Europe,  from  which  it  was 
before  eiuirely  separated  ;  whereas,  had  the 
czarowitz  succeeded  to  the  throne,  every  thing 
would  have  been  destroyed.  In  fine,  when  this 
catastrophe  comes  to  he  seriously  considered, 
the  compassionate  heart  shudders,  and  the  rigid 
applauds. 

This  great  and  terrible  event  is  still  fresh  in 
the  memories  of  mankind  ;  and  it  is  frequently 
spoken  of  as  a  matter  of  so  much  surprise,  that 
it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  examine  what  con- 
temporary writer?  have  said  of  it.  One  of  these 
hireling  scribblers,  who  has  taken  on  him  the  title 
of  historian,  speaks  thus  of  it  in  a  work  which 
he  has  dedicated  to  count  Bruhl,  prime  ministe) 
to  his  Polish  majesty,  whose  name  indeed  may 
seem  to  give  some  weight  to  what  he  advances. 
'  Russia  was  convinced  that  the  czarowitz  owed 
his  death  to  poison,  which  had  been  given  him 
by  his  mother-in-law.'  But  this  accusation  is 
overturned  by  the  declaration  which  the  czar 
made  to  the  duke  of  Holstein,  that  the  empress 
Catherine  had  advised  him  to  confine  his  son  in 
a  monastery. 

With  regard  to  the  poison  which  the  empress 
is  said  to  have  given  afterwards  to  her  husband, 
that  story  is  sufficiently  destroyed  by  the  simple 
relation  of  the  affair  of  the  page  and  pocket-book. 
What  man  would  think  of  making  such  a  memo- 
randum as  this,  '  I  must  remember  to  confine  my 
wife  in  a  convent  V  Is  this  a  circumstance  of  so 
trivial  a  nature,  that  it  must  be  set  down  lest  it 
should  be  forgotten  ?  If  Catherine  had  poisoned 
her  son-in-law  and  her  husband  she  would  have 
committed  crimes;  whereas,  so  far  from  being 
suspected  of  cruelty,  she  had  a  remarkable  cha- 
racter for  lenity  and  sweetness  of  temper. 

It  may  now  be  proper  to  shew  what  was  'be 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  331 

first  cause  of  the  behaviour  of  the  czarowitz,  of 
his  flight,  and  of  his  death,  and  that  of  his  ac- 
complices, who  fell  by  the  hands  of  the  execu- 
tioner. It  was  owing  then  to  mistaken  notions 
in  religion,  and  to  a  superstitious  fondness  for 
priests  and  monks.  That  this  was  the  real 
Bource  from  whence  all  his  misfortunes  were  de- 
rived, is  sufficiently  apparent  from  his  own  con- 
fession, which  we  have  already  set  before  the 
reader,  and  in  particular,  by  that  expression  of 
the  czar  in  his  letter  to  his  unhappy  son,  '  A 
corrupt  priesthood  will  be  able  to  turn  vou  at 
pleasure.' 

The  following  is,  almost  word  for  word,  the 
manner  in  which  a  certain  ambassador  to  the 
court  of  Russia  explains  these  words. — Several 
ecclesiastics,  says  he,  fond  of  the  ancient  bar- 
barous customs,  and  regretting  the  authority  they 
had  lost  by  the  nation  having  become  more  civi- 
lized, wished  earnestly  to  see  prince  Alexis  on 
the  throne,  from  whose  known  disposition  they 
expected  a  return  of  those  days  of  ignorance  and 
superstition  which  were  so  dear  to  them.  In  the 
number  of  these  was  Dozitbeus,  bishop  of  Ros- 
tow.  This  prelate  feigned  a  revelation  from  St. 
Demetrius,  and  that  the  saint  had  appeared  to 
him,  and  had  assured  him  as  from  God  himself, 
that  the  czar  would  not  live  above  three  months  ; 
that  the  empress  Eudocia,  who  was  then  confined 
in  the  convent  of  Sii8dal(and  had  taken  the  veil 
under  the  name  of  sister  Helena),  and  the  prin- 
cess iJary  the  czar's  sis'.er,  should  ascend  the 
throne  and  reign  jointly  with  prince  Alexis.  Eu- 
docia and  the  princess  Mary  were  weak  enough  to 
credit  this  imposture,  and  were  even  so  persuaded 
of  the  truth  of  this  prediction,  that  the  former 
quitted  her  habit  and  the  convent,  and  throwing 
aside  the  name  of  sister  Helena,  reassumed  th« 


332  HISTORY  OF 

imperial  title  and  the  ancient  dress  cf  the  czar- 
ina's, and  caused  the  name  of  her  rival  Catherine 
to  he  struck  out  of  the  form  of  prayer.  And 
when  the  lady  abbess  of  the  convent  opposed  these 
proceedings,  Eudocia  answered  her  haughtily — 
That  as  Peter  had  punished  the  streliizes  who 
liad  insuited  his  mother,  in  like  manner  would 
prince  Alexis  punish  those  who  had  offered  aH 
indignity  to  his.  She  caused  the  abbess  to  be 
confined  to  her  apartment.  An  officer  named 
Stephen  Glebo  was  introduced  into  the  convent; 
this  man  Eudocia  made  use  of  as  the  instrument 
of  her  designs,  having  previously  won  him  over 
to  her  interest  by  heaping  favours  on  him.  Glebo 
caused  Dozitheus's  prediction  to  be  spread  over 
the  little  town  of  Susdal,  and  the  neighbourhood 
thereof.  But  the  three  months  being  nearly  ex- 
pired, Eudocia  reproached  the  bishop  with  the 
czar's  being  still  alive,  '  My  father's  sins,'  an- 
swered Dozitheus,  '  have  been  the  cause  of  this  : 
he  is  still  in  purgatory,  and  has  acquainted  me 
therewith.'  Upon  this  Eudocia  caused  a  thou- 
sand masses  for  the  dead  to  be  said,  Dozitheus 
assuring  her  that  this  would  not  fail  of  having 
the  desired  effect :  but  in  about  a  month  after- 
wards, he  came  to  her  and  told,  that  his  father's 
head  was  already  out  of  purgatory ;  in  a  month 
afterwards  he  was  freed  as  far  as  his  waist,  so 
that  i"hen  he  only  stuck  in  purgatory  by  his  feet ; 
but  as  soon  as  they  should  be  set  free,  which  was 
the  most  difficult  part  of  the  business,  the  czar 
would  infiillibly  die. 

The  princess  Marv,  persuaded  by  Dozitheus, 
gave  herself  up  to  him,  on  condition  that  his 
father  should  be  immediately  released  from  pur- 
gatory, and  the  prediction  accomplished,  and 
Glebo  continued  bis  usual  correspondence  with 
the  old  czarina. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  333 

It  was  chiefly  on  the  faith  of  these  predictions 
that  the  czarowitz  quitted  the  kingdom,  and  re- 
tired into  a  foreign  country,  to  wait  for  the  death 
of  his  father.  However  the  whole  scheme  was 
SCO  a  discovered  ;  Dozitheus  and  Glebo  were 
seized  ;  the  letters  of  the  princess  Mary  to  Dozi- 
theus, and  those  of  sister  Helena  to  Glebo,  were 
read  in  the  open  senate.  In  consequence  of 
which,  th«  princess  Mary  was  shut  up  in  the  for- 
tress of  Schusselbourg,  and  the  old  czarina  re- 
moved to  another  convent,  where  she  was  kept 
a  close  prisoner.  Dozithous  and  Glebo,  together 
with  the  other  accomplices  of  these  idle  and  su- 
perstitious intrigues,  were  put  to  the  torture,  as 
were  likewise  the  confidants  of  the  czarowitz's 
flight.  His  confessor,  his  preceptor,  and  the 
steward  of  his  household,  all  died  by  the  hands 
of  the  executioner. 

Such  then  was  the  dear  and  fatal  price  at 
which  Peter  the  Great  purchased  the  happiness 
of  his  people,  and  such  were  the  numberless  ob- 
stacles he  had  to  surmount  in  the  midst  of  a  long 
and  dangerous  war  without  doors,  and  an  un- 
natural rebellion  at  home.  He  saw  one  half  of 
his  family  plotting  against  him,  the  majority  of 
the  priesthood  obstinately  bent  to  frustrate  his 
designs,  and  almost  the  whole  nation  for  a  long 
time  opposing  its  own  felicity,  of  which  as  yet  it 
was  not  become  sensible.  He  had  prejudices  to 
overcome,  and  discontents  to  sooth.  In  a  word, 
there  wanted  a  new  generation  formed  by  his 
care,  who  would  at  length  entertain  the  proper 
ideas  of  happiness  and  glory,  which  their  fathers 
were  not  abl*  to  comprehend  cr  support. 


334  HISTORY  OF 


CHAP.  XXX. 

Works  and  eatablishments  in  1718,  and  the 

following  years. 

THROUGHOUT  the  whole  of  the  fcregoing 
dreadful  catastrophe,  it  appeared  clearly, 
that  Peter  had  acted  only  as  the  father  of  his 
country,  and  that  he  considered  his  people  as 
his  family.  The  punishments  he  had  been  ob- 
liged to  inflict  on  such  of  them,  who  had  endea- 
voured to  obstruct  or  impede  the  happiness  of 
the  rest,  were  necessary,  though  melancholy  sa- 
crifices, made  to  the  general  good. 

1718.]  This  year,  which  was  the  epoch  of  the 
disinheriting  and  death  of  his  eldest  son,  was 
also  that  of  the  greatest  advantage  he  procured 
to  his  subjects,  by  establishing  a  general  police 
hitherto  unknown ;  by  the  introduction  or  im- 
provement of  manufactures  and  works  of  every 
kind,  bv  opening  new  branches  of  trade,  which 
now  began  to  flourish,  and  by  the  construction  of 
canals,  which  jo  ned  rivers,  seas,  and  people, 
that  nature  had  separated  from  each  other.  We 
have  here  none  of  those  striking  events  which 
charm  common  readers  ;  none  of  those  court-in- 
trigues which  are  the  food  of  scandal  and  malice, 
nor  of  those  great  revolutions  which  amaze  the 
generality  of  mankind  ;  but  we  behold  the  real 
springs  ot  public  happiness,  which  the  philo- 
sophic eye  Jelights  to  contemplate. 

He  now  appointed  a  lieutenant-general  of 
police  over  the  whole  empire,  who  was  to  hold 
his  court  at  Petersburg,  and  from  thence  pre- 
serve order  from  one  end  of  the  kingdom  to  the 
other.  Extravagance  in  dress,  and  the  still 
more   dangerous  extravagance  of  gaming,  wer« 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  335 

prohibited  under  severe  penalties  ;  schools  for 
teaching  arithmetic,  which  had  been  first  set  on 
foot  in  1716.  were  now  established  in  many 
towns  in  Russia.  The  hospitals,  which  had  been 
began,  were  now  finished,  endowed,  and  filled 
with  proper  objects. 

To  these  we  may  add  the  several  useful  esta- 
blishments which  had  been  projected  some  time 
before,  and  which  were  completed  a  few  years 
afterwards.  The  great  towns  were  now  cleared 
of  those  innumerable  swarms  of  beggars,  who 
will  not  follow  any  other  occupation  but  that  of 
importuning  those  who  are  more  industrious  than 
themselves,  and  who  lead  a  wretched  and  shame- 
ful life  at  the  expense  of  others  :  an  abuse  too 
much  overlooked  in  other  nations. 

The  rich  were  obliged  to  build  regular  and 
handsome  houses  in  Petersburg,  agreeable  to 
their  circumstances,  and,  by  a  master-stroke  of 
police,  the  several  materials  were  brought  car- 
riage free  to  the  city,  by  the  barks  and  waggons 
which  returned  empty  from  the  neighbouring 
provinces. 

Weights  and  measares  were  likewise  fixed 
upon  an  uniform  ])lan,  in  the  same  manner  as 
the  laws.  This  uniformity,  so  much,  but  in  vain 
desired,  in  states  that  have  for  many  ages  been 
civilized,  was  established  in  Russia  without  tiie 
least  difficulty  or  murmuring  ;  and  yet  we  fancy 
that  this  salutary  regulation  is  impracticable 
amongst  us. 

The  prices  of  the  necessaries  of  life  were  also 
fixed  ']"he  city  of  Petersburg  was  well  lighted 
with  lamps  during  the  night ;  a  convenience 
which  was  first  introduced  in  Paris  by  Louis 
XIV.,  and  to  which  Rome  is  still  a  stranger. 
Pumps  were  erected  for  supplying  water  in  case* 
of  fire  ;  the  streets  were  well  paved,  and  rails 


336  HISTORY  OF 

put  up  for  the  security  of  foot  passengers  :  in  a 
word,  every  thing  was  provided  that  could  mi- 
nister to  safety,  dec-ency,  and  good  order,  and 
to  the  quicker  dispatch  and  convenience  of  the 
inland  trade  of  the  country.  Several  privileges 
were  granted  to  foreigners,  and  proper  laws 
enacted  to  prevent  the  abuse  of  those  privileges. 
In  consequence  of  these  useful  and  salutary  re- 
gulations, Petersburg  and  Moscow  put  on  a  new 
face. 

The  iron  and  steel  manufactories  received  ad- 
ditional improvements,  especially  those  which 
the  czar  had  founded  at  about  ten  miles  distance 
from  Petersburg,  of  which  he  himself  was  the 
first  superintendant,  and  wherein  no  less  than  a 
thousand  workmen  were  employed  immediately 
under  his  eye.  He  went  in  person  to  give  di- 
rections to  those  who  farmed  the  corn-mills, 
powder-mills,  and  mills  for  sawing  timber,  and 
to  the  managers  of  the  manufactories  for  cordage 
and  sail-cloth,  to  the  brick-makers,  slaters,  and 
the  cloth-weavers.  Numbers  of  workmen  in 
every  branch  came  from  France  to  settle  under 
him  ;  these  were  the  fruits  he  reaped  from  his 
travels. 

He  established  a  board  of  trade,  which  was 
composed  of  one  half  natives,  and  the  other 
half  foreigners,  in  order  that  justice  might  oe 
equally  distributed  to  all  artists  and  wc;krr>?i\, 
A  Frenchman  settled  a  manufactory  for  making 
fine  looking-glass  at  Petersburg,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  prince  Menzikoff.  Another  set  up  a  loum 
for  working  curious  tapestry,  after  the  manner 
of  the  Gobelins  ;  and  this  manufactory  still  meets 
with  great  encouragement.  A  third  succeeded 
in  making  of  gold  and  silver  thread,  and  the 
czar  ordered  that  no  more  than  four  thousand 
marks  of  gold  or  silver  should  be  expended  iu 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  337 

these  works  in  the  space  of  a  year  ;  by  this 
means  to  prevent  the  too  great  consumption  of 
bullion  in  the  kingdom. 

He  gave  thirty  thousand  rubles,  that  is,  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  French  livres,* 
together  with  all  the  materials  and  instruments 
necessary  for  making  the  several  kinds  of  woollen 
stuffs.  By  this  useful  bounty  he  was  enabled  to 
clothe  all  his  troops  with  the  cloth  made  in  his 
own  country  ;  whereas,  before  that  lime,  it  was 
purchased  from  Berlin  and  other  foreign  king- 
doms. 

They  made  as  fine  linen  cloth  in  Moscow  as 
in  Holland  ;  and  at  his  death  there  were  in  that 
capital  and  at  .Taroslaw,  no  less  than  fourteen 
linen  and  hempen  manufactories. 

It  could  certainly  never  be  imagined,  at  the 
time  that  silk  sold  in  Europe  for  iis  weight  in 
gold,  that  one  day  there  would  arise  on  the 
banks  of  the  lake  Ladoga,  in  the  midst  of  a  frozen 
region,  and  among  unfrequented  marches,  a  mag- 
nificent and  opulent  city,  where  the  silks  of 
Persia  should  be  manufactured  in  as  great  per- 
fection as  at  Ispahan.  Peter,  however,  under- 
took this  great  phenomenon  in  commerce,  and 
succeeded  in  the  attempt.  The  working  of  iron 
mines  was  carried  to  their  highest  degree  of 
perfection  ;  several  other  mines  of  gold  and 
silver  were  discovered,  and  the  council  of  mines 
was  appointed  to  examine  and  determine,  whe- 
ther the  working  of  these  would  bring  in  a  profit 
adequate  to  the  expense. 

But,  to  make  so  many  different  arts  and  ma- 
nufactures flourish,  and  to  establish  so  many 
various  undertakings,  it  was  not  alone  suflficient 
to  grant  patents,  or  to  appoint  inspectors  :  it  wa« 

•  Ai  tweufj-four  to  the  pound  sierliiig. 
P 


338  HISTORY  OF 

necessary  that  our  great  founder  should  behold 
all  these  pass  under  his  own  eye  in  their  begin- 
nings, and  work  at  them  with  his  own  hands,  in 
the  same  manner  as  we  have  already  seen  him 
working  at  the  construction,  the  rigging,  and  the 
sailing  of  a  ship.  When  canals  were  to  be  dug 
in  marshy  and  almost  impassable  grt>unds,  he 
was  frequently  seen  at  the  head  of  the  workmen 
digging  the  earth,  and  carrying  it  away  himself. 

In  this  same  year  (1718)  he  formed  the  plan 
of  the  canal  and  sluices  of  Ladoga  :  this  was 
intended  to  make  a  communication  between  the 
Neva  and  another  navigable  river,  in  order  for 
t*he  more  easy  conveyance  of  merchandize  to 
Petersburg,  without  taking  the  great  circuit  of 
the  lake  Ladoga,  which,  on  account  of  the  storms 
that  prevailed  on  the  coast,  was  frequently  im- 
passable for  barks  or  small  vessels,  Peter 
levelled  the  ground  himself,  and  they  still  pre- 
serve the  tools  which  he  used  in  digging  up  and 
carrying  off  the  earth.  The  whole  court  fol- 
lowed the  example  of  their  sovereign,  and  per- 
sisted in  a  work,  which,  at  the  same  time,  they 
looked  upon  as  impracticable  ;  and  it  was 
finished  after  his  death  :  for  not  one  of  his  pro- 
jects, which  had  been  found  possible  to  be  ef- 
fected, was  abandoned. 

The  great  canal  of  Cronstadt,  which  is  easily 
drained  of  its  waters,  and  wherein  they  careen 
and  clean  the  men  of  war,  was  also  began  at  the 
same  time  that  he  was  engaged  in  the  proceed- 
ings against  his  son. 

In  this  year  also  he  built  the  new  city  of 
Ladoga.  A  short  time  afterwards,  he  made  the 
canal  which  joins  the  Caspian  Sea  to  the  giilf 
of  Finland  and  to  the  ocean.  The  boats,  after 
sailing  up  the  Wolga,  came  first  to  the  commu- 
nication of  two  rivers,  which  he  joined  for  thai 


PE'J'ER  THE  GREAT.  339 

purpose;  from  thence,  by  another  canal,  they 
enter  into  the  lake  of  llmen,  and  then  fall  into 
the  canal  of  Ladoga,  from  whence  goods  and 
merchandizes  may  be  conveyed  by  sea  to  all 
parts  of  the  world. 

lu  the  midst  of  these  labours,  which  all  passed 
under  his  inspection,  he  carried  his  views  from 
Kamschatka  to  the  most  eastern  limits  of  his 
empire,  and  caused  two  forts  to  be  built  in  these 
regions,  which  were  so  long  unknown  to  the 
rest  of  the  world.  In  the  meantime,  a  body  of 
engineers,  who  were  draughted  from  the  marine 
academy  established  in  171*),  were  sent  to  make 
the  tour  of  the  empire,  in  order  to  form  exact  charts 
thereof,  and  lay  before  mankind  the  immense 
extent  of  country  which  he  had  civilized  and 
enriched. 


CHAP.    XXXI. 

Of  the  trado  of  Rnssia. 


'T'HE  Russian  trade  without  doors  was  m  a 
manner  annihilated  before  the  reign  of  Peter. 
He  restored  it  anew,  after  his  acce.^sion  to  the 
throne.  It  is  notorious,  that  the  current  of  trade 
has  undergone  several  changes  in  the  world.  The 
south  part  of  Rust«ia  was  before  the  time  of  Ta- 
merlane, the  staple  of  Greece,  and  even  of  the 
Indies  ;  and  the  Genoese  were  the  principal  fac- 
tors. The  Tanais  and  the  Boristhenes  were 
loaded  with  the  productions  of  Asia  :  but  when 
Tamerlane,  towards  the  end  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  had  conquered  the  Taurican  Cherso- 
nesus,  afterwards  called  Crimea  or  Crim  Tartary, 
and  when  the  Turks  became  masters  of  Azoph, 
this  great  branch  of  trade  was  totally  destroyed. 
Peter  formed   the  design  of  reviving  it,  by  get* 


340  HISTORY  OF 

ting  possession  of  Azoph  ;  but  the  unfortunate 
campaign  of  Pruth  wrested  this  city  out  of  his 
hands,  and  with  it  all  his  views  on  the  Black 
Sea  :  nevertheless  he  had  it  still  in  his  power  to 
open  as  extensive  a  road  to  commerce  through 
the  Caspian  Sea.  The  English  who,  in  the  end 
of  the  fifteenth,  and  beginning  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  had  opened  a  trade  to  Archangel,  had 
endeavoured  to  do  the  same  likewise  by  the  Cas- 
pian Sea,  but  failed  in  all  their  attempts  for  this 
purpose. 

It  ha<»  been  already  observed,  that  the  father 
of  Peter  the  Great  caused  a  ship  to  be  built  in 
Holland,  to  trade  from  Astracan  to  the  coast  of 
Persia.  This  vessel  was  burnt  by  the  rebel 
Stenkorazin,  which  put  an  immediate  stop  to 
any  views  of  trading  on  a  fair  footing  with  the 
Persians.  The  Armenians,  who  are  the  factors 
of  that  part  of  Asia,  were  received  by  Peter  the 
Great  into  Astracan  :  every  thing  was  obliged  to 
pass  through  their  hands,  and  they  reaped  all 
the  advantage  of  that  trade  ;  as  is  the  case  with 
the  Indian  traders,  and  the  Banians,  and  with 
the  Turks,  as  well  as  several  nations  in  Christen- 
dom, and  the  Jews  :  for  those  who  have  only  one 
waj  of  living,  are  generally  very  expert  in  that 
art  on  which  they  depend  for  a  support ;  and 
others  pay  a  voluntary  tribute  to  that  knowledge 
in  which  they  know  themselves  deficient. 

Peter  had  already  found  a  remedy  for  this 
inconvenience,  in  the  treaty  which  he  made  with 
the  sophi  of  Persia,  by  which  all  the  silk,  which 
was  not  used  for  the  manufactories  in  that  king- 
dom, was  to  be  delivered  to  the  ."Armenians  of 
Asiracan,  and  by  them  to  be  transported  into 
Russia. 

The  troubles  which  arose  in  Persia  soon  over- 
turned this  arrangement ;  and   in  the  course  of 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  341 

this  history,  we  shall  see  how  the  sha,  or  em- 
peror of  Persia,  Hussein,  when  persecuted  by  the 
rebels,  implored  tiie  assistance  of  Peter;  and  how 
that  monarch,  after  having  supported  a  difficult 
war  against  the  Turks  and  the  Swedes,  entered 
Peisia,  and  subjected  three  of  its  provinces.  But 
to  return  to  the  article  of  trade. 

Of  the  Trade  with  China. 

The  undertaking  of  establishing  a  trade  with 
China  seemed  to  promise  the  greatest  advan- 
tages. Two  vast  empires,  bordering  on  each 
other,  and  each  reciprocally  possessing  what  the 
other  stood  in  need  of,  seemed  to  be  both  under 
the  happy  necessity  of  opening  a  useful  correB- 
pondence,  especially  after  the  treaty  of  peace,  so 
solemnly  ratified  between  these  two  empires  in 
the  year  1639,  according  to  our  way  of  reckoning. 

The  first  foundation  of  this  trade  had  been  laid 
in  the  year  165:5.  There  was  at  that  time  two 
companies  of  Siberian  and  Bukarian  families 
settled  in  Siberia.  Their  caravans  travelled 
through  the  Calmuck  plains ;  after  they  had 
crossed  the  deserts  of  Chinese  Tartary,  and  made 
a  considerable  profit  by  their  trade  ;  but  the 
troubles  which  happened  in  the  country  of  the 
Calmucks,  and  the  disputes  between  the  Rus- 
sians and  the  Chinese,  in  regard  to  the  frontiers, 
put  a  stop  to  this  commerce. 

After  the  peace  of  16^9,  it  was  natural  for  the 
two  great  nations  to  fix  on  some  neutral  place, 
whither  ail  the  goods  should  be  carried.  The 
Siberians,  like  all  other  nations,  stood  more  in 
need  of  the  Chinese,  than  these  latter  did  of 
them  ;  accordingly  permission  was  asked  of  the 
emperor  of  China,  to  send  caravans  to  Pekin, 
which  was  readily  granted.  This  happened  in 
the  beginning  of  the  present  century. 


842  HISTORY  OF 

It  is  worthy  of  observation,  that  the  erajJeror 
Camhi  had  granted  permission  for  a  Russian 
church  in  the  suburbs  of  Pekin ;  which  church 
was  to  be  served  b}'  Siberian  priests,  the  whole 
at  the  emperor's  own  expense,  who  was  fo  indul- 
gent to  cause  t^is  church  to  be  built  for  the  ac- 
conamodation  of  several  families  of  eastern  Si- 
beria ;  some  of  whom  had  been  prisoners  before  the 
peace  of  1680,  and  the  others  were  adventurers 
from  their  own  country,  who  would  not  return 
back  again  after  the  peace  of  Niptchou.  The 
agreeable  climate  of  Pekin,  the  ob'.ij^ing  manners 
of  the  Chinese,  and  the  ease  with  which  they 
found  a  handsome  living,  determined  them  to 
spend  the  rest  of  their  days  in  China.  The  small 
Greek  church  could  not  become  dangerous  to  the 
peace  of  the  empire,  as  those  of  the  Jesuits  have 
been  to  that  of  other  nations  ;  and  moreover,  the 
emperor  Camhi  was  a  favourer  of  liberty  of  con- 
science. Toleration  has,  in  all  times,  been  the 
established  custom  in  Asia,  as  it  was  in  former 
times  all  over  the  world,  till  the  reign  of  the 
Roman  emperor  Theodosius  I.  The  Russian 
families,  thus  established  in  China,  having  in- 
termarried with  the  natives,  have  since  quitted 
the  Christian  religion,  but  their  church  still 
subsists. 

It  was  stipulated,  that  this  church  should  he 
for  the  use  of  those  who  come  with  the  Siberian 
caravans,  to  bring  furs  and  other  commodities 
wanted  at  Pekin.  The  voyage  out  and  home, 
and  the  stay  in  the  country,  generally  took  up 
three  years.  Prince  Gagarin,  governor  of  Siberia, 
was  twenty  years  at  the  head  of  this  trade.  The 
jaravaiis  were  sometimes  very  numerous;  and  ic 
was  difficult  to  keep  the  common  people,  who 
inade  the  greatest  number,  within  proper  bounds. 

They  passed  through  the  territories  of  a  Laman 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  34S 

priest,  who  is  a  kind  of  Tartarian  sovereign, 
resides  on  the  sea-coast  of  Orkon,  and  has  the 
title  of  Koutoukas  :  he  is  the  vicar  of  the  grand 
Lama,  but  has  rendered  himself  independent,  by 
making  some  change  in  the  religion  of  the  coun- 
try, where  the  Indian  tenet  of  metempsychosis  is 
the  prevailing  opinion.  VVe  cannot  find  a  more 
apt  comparison  fAr  this  priest  than  in  the  bishops 
of  Lubeck  and  Osnaburg  who  have 'shaken  off 
the  dominion  of  tlie  church  of  Rome.  The  cara- 
vans, in  their  march,  sometimes  committed  de- 
predations on  the  territories  of  this  Tartarian 
prelate,  as  they  did  also  on  those  of  the  Chinese. 
This  irregular  conduct  proved  an  impediment  to 
the  trade  of  those  parts  ;  for  the  Chinese  threat- 
ened to  shut  the  entrance  into  their  empire 
against  the  Russians,  unless  a  sto|>  was  put  to 
these  disorders.  The  trade  with  China  was  at 
that  time  verv  advantageous  to  the  Russians, 
who  brought  from  thence  gold,  silver,  and  pre- 
cious stones,  in  return  for  their  merchandize. 
The  largest  ruby  in  the  world  was  brought  out 
of  China  to  prince  Gagarin,  who  sent  it  to  prince 
MenzikofF;  and  it  is  now  one  of  the  ornaments  of - 
the  imperial  crown. 

The  exactions  put  in  practice  by  prince  Ga- 
garin were  of  great  prejudice  to  that  trade,  which 
had  brought  liim  so  much  riches  ;  and,  at  length, 
they  ended  in  his  own  destruction  ;  for  he  was 
accused  before  the  court  of  justice,  established 
by  the  czar,  and  sentenced  to  lose  his  head,  a 
year  after  the  condemnation  of  the  czarowitz, 
and  the  execution  of  all  those  who  had  been  his 
accomplices. 

About  the  same  time,  the  emperor  Camhi,  per- 
ceiving his  health  to  decay,  and  knowing,  by 
experience,  that  the  European  mathematician* 
were  much  more  learned  in  their  art  than  those  ot 


344  HISTORY  OF 

his  own  nation,  thought  that  the  European  physi- 
cians must  also  have  more  knowledge  than  those 
of  Pekin,  and  therefore  sent  a  message  to  the 
czar,  by  some  ambassadors  who  were  returning 
from  China  to  Petersburg,  requesting  him  to  send 
him  one  of  his  physicians.  There  happened  at 
that  time  to  be  an  English  surgeon  at  Petersburg, 
who  offered  to  undertake  the  journey  in  that 
character  ;  and  accordingly  set  out  in  company 
with  a  new  ambassador,  and  one  Laurence  Lange. 
who  has  left  a  description  of  that  journey.  T.'iia 
embassy  was  received,  and  all  the  expense  of  it 
defrayed  with  great  pomp,  by  Camhi.  The 
surgeon,  at  his  arrival,  found  the  emperor  in 
perfect  health,  and  gained  the  reputation  of  a 
most  skilful  physician.  The  caravans  who  fol- 
lowed this  embassy  made  prodigious  profits  ;  but 
fresh  excesses  having  been  committed  by  this  very 
caravan,  the  Chinese  were  so  offended  thereat, 
that  they  sent  back  Lange,  who  was  at  that  time  re- 
sident from  the  czar  at  the  Chinese  court,  and  with 
him  all  the  Russian  merchants  established  there. 
'  The  enriperor  Camhi  dying,  his  son  Yontchin, 
who  had  as  great  a  share  of  wisdom,  and  more 
firmness  than  his  father,  and  who  drove  the  Jesuits 
out  of  his  empire,  as  the  czar  had  done  from 
Russia  in  1718,  concluded  a  treaty  with  Peter, 
by  which  the  Russian  caravans  were  no  more  to 
trade  on  the  frontiers  of  the  two  empires.  There 
are  only  certain  factors,  dispatched  in  the  name 
of  the  emperor  or  empress  of  Russia,  and  these 
have  liberty  to  enter  Pekin,  where  they  are  lodged 
in  a  vast  house,  which  the  emperor  of  China 
formerly  assigned  for  the  reception  of  the  envoys 
from  Corea :  but  it  is  a  considerable  time  since 
either  caravans  or  factors  have  been  sent  from 
Russia  thither  so  that  the  trade  is  now  in  a  de- 
clining way,  but  may  possibly  soon  be  revived. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  S45 

Of  the  Trade  qf  PETERSBURG,  and  the  othtr 
ports  of  the  RUSSIAN  EMPIRE. 

There  were  at  this  time  above  two  hundred 
foreign  vessels  traded  to  the  new  capital,  in  the 
space  of  a  year.  This  trade  has  continued  in- 
creasing, and  has  frequently  brought  in  five  mil- 
lions (French  money)  to  the  crown.  This  was 
i^reatly  more  than  the  interest  of  the  money 
which  this  establishment  had  cost.  This  trade, 
however,  greatly  diminished  that  of  Archangel, 
and  was  precisely  what  the  founder  desired  ;  for 
the  port  of  Archangel  is  too  dangerous,  and  at 
too  great  distance  from  other  ports  :  besides  that, 
a  trade  which  is  carried  on  immediately  under 
the  eye  of  an  assiduous  sovereign,  is  always  the 
most  advantageous.  That  of  Livonia  continued 
mill  on  the  same  footing.  The  trade  of  Russia 
in  general  has  proved  very  successful ;  its  ports 
have  received  from  one  thousand  to  twelve 
hundred  vessels  in  a  year,  and  Peter  discovered 
the  happy  expedient  of  joining  utility  to  glory. 


CHAP.  XXXII. 

Of  the  laws. 

TT  is  well  known,  that  good  laws  are  scarce, 
and  that  the  due  execution  of  them  is  still 
more  so.  The  greater  the  extent  of  any  state, 
and  the  variety  of  people  of  which  it  is  composed, 
the  more  difficult  it  is  to  unite  tlicm  by  the  same 
body  of  laws.  The  father  of  czar  Peter  formed 
a  digest  or  code  under  the  title  of  Oiilngenia, 
which  was  actually  printed,  but  it  by  no  meanti 
answered  the  end  intended. 
Pi 


546  HISTORY  OF 

Peter,  in  tbe  course  of  his  travels,  had  collected 
materials  for  reparing  this  great  structure,  which 
Tras  falling  to  decay  in  many  of  its  parts.  He 
gathered  many  useful  hints  from  the  governn^entg 
of  Denmark,  Sweden,  England,  Germany,  and 
France,  selecting  from  each  of  these  different 
nations  what  he  thought  most  suitable  to  his  own. 

There  was  a  court  of  boyards  or  great  men, 
who  deteniuned  all  matters  en  dcrnin-  ressort. 
Rank  a:ul  birth  alone  gave  a  seat  in  this  assembly  ; 
but  the  czar  thought  that  knowledge  was  likewise 
requisite,  and  therefore  this  court  was  dissolved. 

He  then  instituted  a  procurator-general,  assist- 
ed by  four  assistors,  in  each  of  the  governments 
of  the  empire.  These  were  to  overlook  the  con* 
duct  of  the  judges,  whose  decrees  were  subject  to 
an  appeal  to  the  senate  which  he  established. 
Each  of  those  judges  was  furnished  with  a  copy 
of  the  Oiil'if^enia,  with  additions  and  necessary 
alterations,  until  a  complete  body  of  laws  could 
be  formed. 

It  was  forbid  to  these  judges  to  receive  any 
fees,  which,  however  moderate,  are  always  an 
abusive  tax  on  the  fortunes  and  properties  of  those 
concerned  in  suits  of  law.  The  czar  also  took 
care  that  the  expenses  of  the  court  were  moderate, 
and  tbe  decisions  speedy.  The  judges  and  their 
clerks  had  salaries  appointed  them  out  of  the 
j)ublic  treasury,  and  were  not  suffered  to  purchase 
their  offices. 

It  was  in  the  year  1718,  at  the  very  time  that 
he  was  engaged  in  the  process  against  his  son, 
that  he  made  the  ciiief  part  of  these  regulations. 
The  greatest  part  of  the  laws  he  enacted  were 
borrowed  from  those  of  the  Swedes,  and  he  made 
no  difficulty  to  admit  to  places  in  hs  courts  of 
judicature  such  Swedish  prisor.ers  who  were  well 
•versed  K!  ihe  laws  cf  their  own  country,  and  who. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  347 

having  learnt  the  Russian  language,  were  willing 
to  continue  in  that  kingdom. 

The  governor  of  each  province  and  his  assistors 
had  the  cognizance  of  private  causes  within  such 
government ;  from  them  there  was  an  appeal  to 
the  senate  ;  and  if  any  one,  after  having  been  con- 
demned by  the  senate,  appealed  to  the  czar  him- 
self, and  such  appeal  was  found  unjust,  he  was 
punished  with  death  :  but  to  mitigate  the  rigour 
of  this  law,  the  czar  created  a  master  of  the  re- 
quests, who  received  the  petitions  of  those  who 
had  affairs  depending  in  the  senate,  or  in  the  in- 
ferior courts,  concerning  which  the  laws  then  in 
force  were  not  suflBciently  explanatory. 

At  length,  in  1722,  he  completed  his  new  code, 
prohibiting  all  the  judges,  under  pain  of  death, 
to  depart  therefrom  in  their  decrees,  or  to  set  up 
their  o>yn  private  opinions  in  place  of  the  general 
statutes.  This  dreadful  ordonnance  was  ])ublicly 
fixed  up,  and  still  remains  in  all  the  courts  o' 
judicature  of  the  empire. 

He  erected  every  thing  anew ;  there  was  not, 
even  to  the  common  aflPairs  of  society,  aught  but 
what  was  his  work.  He  regulated  the  degrees 
between  man  and  man,  according  to  their  posts 
and  employments,  from  the  admiral  and  the  field- 
marshal  to  the  ensign,  without  any  regard  to  birth. 

Having  always  in  his  own  mind,  and  willing 
to  imprint  it  on  those  of  his  subjc'cts,  that  services 
are  preferable  to  pedigree,  a  certain  rank  was 
likewise  fixed  for  the  women  ;  and  she  who  took 
a  seat  in  a  public  assembly,  that  did  not  properly 
belong  to  her,  was  obliged  to  pay  a  fine. 

By  a  still  more  useful  regulation,  every  private 
soldier,  on  being  made  an  officer,  instantly  became 
a  gentleman  ;  and  a  nobleman,  if  his  character 
had  been  impeached  in  a  court  of  justice,  waa 
degraded  to  a  plebeian. 


348  HISTORY  OF 

After  the  settling  of  these  several  laws  and  re- 
gulations, it  happened  that  the  increase  of  towns, 
wealth,- and  population  in  the  empire,  new  under- 
takings, and  the  creation  of  new  employs,  neces- 
earilv  introduced  a  multitude  of  new  affairs  and 
unforeseen  cases,  which  were  all  consequences  of 
that  success  which  attended  the  czar  in  the  ge- 
neral reformation  of  his  dominions. 

The  empress  Elizabeth  completed  the  body  of 
laws  which  her  father  had  begun,  in  which  she 
gave  the  most  lively  proofs  of  that  mildness  and 
clemency  for  which  she  was  so  justly  famed. 


CHAP.  XXXIII. 

Of  Religion. 

AT  this  time  Peter  laboured  more  than  ever  to 
reform  the  clergy.  He  had  abolished  the 
patriarchal  office,  and  by  this  act  of  authority  had 
alienated  the  minds  of  the  ecclesiastics.  He  was 
determined  that  the  imperial  power  should  be 
free  and  absolute,  and  that  of  the  church  re- 
spected, but  submissive.  His  design  was,  to  es- 
tablish a  council  of  religion,  which  should  always 
subsist,  but  dependent  on  the  sovereign,  and  that 
it  should  give  no  laws  to  the  church,  but  such  as 
should  be  approved  of  by  the  head  of  the  state, 
of  which  the  church  was  a  part.  He  was  as- 
sisted in  this  undertaking  by  the  archbishop  of 
Novogorod,  named  Theophanes  Procop,  or  Pro- 
copowitz,  i.  e.  son  of  Procop. 

This  prelate  was  a  person  of  great  learning 
and  sagacity :  his  travels  through  the  different 
parts  of  Europe  had  afforded  him  opportunities 
o(  remarks  on  the  several   abuses  which  reign 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  349 

amongst  them.  The  czar,  who  had  himself  been 
a  witness  of  the  same,  had  this  great  advantage 
in  forming  all  his  regulations,  that  he  was  pos- 
sessed of  an  unlimited  power  to  choose  what  was 
useful,  and  rejoct  what  was  dangerous.  He  la- 
boured, in  concert  with  the  archbishop,  in  the 
years  1718  and  1719,  to  effect  bis  design.  He 
established  a  perpetual  synod,  to  be  composed 
of  twelve  members,  partly  bishops,  and  partly 
archpriests,  all  to  be  chosen  by  the  sovereign. 
This  college  was  afterwards  augment*'d  to  four- 
teen. 

The  motives  of  this  establishment  were  ex- 
plained by  the  czar  in  a  preliminary  discourse. 
The  chief  and  most  remarkable  of  these  was, 
'  That  under  the  administration  of  a  college  of 
priests,  there  was  less  danger  of  troubles  and  in- 
surrections, than  under  the  government  of  a  sin- 
gle head  of  the  church  ;  because  the  common 
people,  who  are  always  i)rone  to  superstition, 
might,  by  seeing  one  head  of  the  church,  and 
another  of  the  state,  be  led  to  believe  that  they 
were  in  fact  two  different  powers.'  And  here^ 
upon  he  cites  as  an  example,  the  divisions  which 
80  long  subsisted  between  the  empire  and  the 
papal  see,  and  which  stained  so  many  kingdoms 
with  blood. 

Peter  thought,  and  openly  declared,  that  the 
notion  of  two  powers  in  a  state,  founded  on  the 
allegory  of  the  two  swords,  mentioned  in  the 
apostles,  was  absurd  and  erroneous. 

This  court  was  invested  with  the  ecclesiastical 
power  of  regulating  all  penances,  and  examining 
into  the  morals  and  capacity  of  those  nominated 
by  the  court  to  bishoprics,  to  pass  judgment  en 
dernier  ressort  in  all  causes  relating  to  religion,  in 
which  it  was  the  custom  formerly  to  appeal  ta 
the  patriarch,  and  also  to  take  coguizance  of  the 


350  HISTORY  OF 

revenues  of  monasteries,  and  the  distribution  of 
alms. 

This  synod  had  the  title  of  most  holy,  the 
same  which  the  patriarchs  were  wont  to  assume, 
and  in  fact  the  czar  seemed  to  have  preserved 
the  patriarchal  dignity,  but  divided  among  four- 
teen members,  who  were  all  dependant  on  the 
crown,  and  were  to  take  an  oath  of  obedience, 
which  the  patriarchs  never  did.  The  members 
of  this  holy  synod,  when  met  in  assembly,  had 
the  same  rank  as  the  senators  ;  but  they  were 
like  the  senate,  all  dependant  on  the  prince. 
But  neither  this  new  form  of  church  administra- 
tion, nor  the  ecclesiastical  code,  were  iu  full  vi- 
gour till  four  yea;s  after  its  institution,  namely 
in  1722.  Peter  at  first  intended,  that  the  synod 
should  have  the  presentation  of  those  whom  they 
thought  most  worthy  to  fill  the  vacant  bishop- 
rics. These  were  to  be  nominated  by  the  em- 
peror, and  consecrated  by  the  synod.  Peter 
frequently  presided  in  person  at  the  assembly4 
One  day  that  a  vacant  see  was  to  be  filled,  the 
synod  observed  to  the  emperor,  that  they  had 
none  but  ignorant  persons  to  present  to  his  ma- 
jesty :  '  Weil,  then,'  replied  the  czar,  '  you  have 
only  to  pitch  upon  the  most  honest  man,  he  will 
be  worth  two  Inarned  ones.* 

It  is  to  be  observed,  that  the  Greek  church  has 
none  of  that  motley  order  called  secular  abbots. 
The  petit  collet  is  unknown  there,  otherwise  than 
by  the  ridiculousness  of  its  character,  but  by 
another  abuse  (as  every  thing  in  this  world  must 
be  subject  to  abuse)  the  bishops  and  prelates  are 
all  chosen  from  the  monastic  orders.  The  first 
monks  were  only  laymen,  partly  devotees,  and 
partly  fanatics,  who  retired  into  the  deserts, 
where  they  were  at  length  gathered  together  by 
St.  Basil,  who  gave  them  a  body  of  rules,  and 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  351 

then  they  took  vows,  and  were  reckoned  as  the 
lower  order  of  the  church,  which  is  the  first  step 
to  be  taken  to  arise  at  higher  dignities.  It  was 
this  that  filled  all  Greece  and  Asia  with  monks. 
Russia  was  overrun  with  them.  1  hey  became 
rich,  powerful,  and  though  excessively  ignorantj 
they  were,  at  the  accession  of  Peter  to  the  throne, 
almost  the  only  persons  who  knew  how  to  write. 
Of  this  knowledge  they  made  such  an  abuse, 
when  struck  and  confounded  with  the  new  regu- 
lations which  Peter  introduced  in  all  the  depart- 
ments of  government,  that  he  was  obliged  in  1703 
to  issue  an  edict,  forbidding  the  use  of  pen  and 
ink  to  the  monks,  without  an  express  order  from 
the  archimandrite,  or  prior  of  the  convent,  who 
in  that  case  was  responsible  for  the  behaviour  of 
those  to  whom  he  granted  this  indulgence. 

Peter  designed  to  make  this  a  standing  law, 
and  at  first  he  intended,  that  no  one  should  be 
admitted  into  any  order  under  fifty  years  of  age  ; 
but  that  appeared  too  late  an  age,  as  the  life  of 
man  being  in  general  so  limited,  there  was  not 
time  sufficient  for  such  persons  to  acquire  the 
necessary  qualifications  for  being  made  bishops  ; 
and  therefore,  with  the  advice  of  his  synod,  he 
placed  it  at  thirty  years  complete,  but  never 
under;  at  the  same  time  expressly  prohibiting 
any  person  exercising  the  profession  of  a  soldier, 
or  an  husbandman,  to  enter  into  a  convent,  with- 
out an  immediate  order  from  the  emperor,  or  the 
synod,  and  to  admit  no  married  man  upon  any 
account,  even  though  divorced  from  his  wife  ; 
unlese  that  wife  should  at  the  same  time  embrace 
a  religious  life  of  her  own  pure  will,  and  that 
neither  of  them  had  any  children.  No  person  in 
actual  employ  under  government  can  take  the 
habit,  without  an  express  order  of  the  state  foi 
ikat  purpose^     Every  monk  ia  obliged  to  work 


352  HISTORY  OF 

with  his  own  hands  at  some  trade.  The  nuna 
are  never  to  go  without  the  walls  of  their  con- 
vent, and  at  the  age  of  fifty  are  to  receive  the 
tonsure,  as  did  the  deaconesses  of  the  primitive 
church  ;  but  if,  before  undergoing  that  ceremonj, 
thev  have  aa  inclination  to  marry,  they  are 
not'  only  allowed,  but  even  exhorted  so  to  do. 
An  admirable  regulation  in  a  country  where  poi- 
pulation  is  of  infinitely  greater  use  than  a  mo- 
nastic life. 

Peter  was  desirous  that  those  unhappy  fe- 
males, whom  God  has  destined  to  people  a 
kingdom,  and  who,  by  a  mistaken  devotion,  an- 
nihilated in  cloisters  that  race  of  which  they 
would  otlierwise  become  mothers,  should  at 
least  be  of  some  service  to  society,  which  they 
thus  injure  ;  and  therefore  ordered,  that  they 
ahould  all  be  employed  in  some  handy  works, 
suitable  to  their  sex.  The  empress  Catherine 
took  upon  herself  the  care  of  sending  for  several 
handicrafts  over  from  Brabant  and  Holland, 
whom  she  distributed  among  these  convents, 
and,  in  a  short  time,  they  praduced  several 
kinds  of  work,  which  the  empress  and  her  ladies 
always  wore  as  a  part  of  their  dress. 

There  cannot  perhaps  be  any  thing  coneeived 
more  prudent  than  these  institutions  ;  but  what 
merits  the  attention  of  all  ages,  is  the  regulation 
which  Peter  made  himself,  and  which  he  ad- 
dressed to  the  synod  in  172-k  The  ancient  ec- 
clesiastical institution  is  there  very  learnedly  ex- 
plained, and  the  indolence  of  the  monkish  life 
admirably  well  exposed  \  and  he  not  only  re- 
commends an  application  to  labour  and  industry,, 
but  even  commands  it ;  and  that  the  principal 
occupation  of  those  people  should  be,  to  assist 
and  relieve  the  poor.  He  likewise  orders,  that 
:iick  and  infirm  soldiers  shall  he  quartered  in  tisA 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  353 

convents,  and  that  a  certain  number  of  monks 
shall  be  set  apart  to  take  care  of  them,  and  that 
the  most  strong  and  healthy  of  these  shall  culti- 
vate the  lands  belonging  to  those  convents.  He 
orders  the  same  regulations  to  be  observed  in  the 
monasteries  for  women,  and  that  the  strongest  of 
these  shall  take  care  of  the  gardens,  and  the 
rest  to  wait  on  sick  or  infirm  women,  who  shad 
be  broughi  from  the  neighbouriuj^  country  into 
the  convents  for  that  purpose.  He  also  enters 
into  the  minutest  details  relating  to  these  ser- 
vices ;  and  lastly,  he  appoints  certain  monaste- 
ries of  both  sexes  for  the  reception  and  education 
of  orphans. 

In  reading  this  ordinance  of  Peter  the  Great, 
which  was  published  the  31=t  January,  17'J4,  one 
would  imagine  it  to  have  been  framed  by  a  minister 
of  state  and  a  father  of  the  church. 

Almost  all  the  customs  in  the  Russian  church 
are  different  from  those  of  ours.  As  soon  as  a 
man  is  made  a  sub-deacon,  we  prohibit  him  from 
marrying,  and  he  is  accounted  guilty  of  sacrilege 
if  he  proves  instrumental  to  the  population  of  his 
country.  On  the  contrary,  when  any  one  has 
taken  a  sub-deacon's  order  in  Russia,  he  is 
obliged  likewise  to  take  a  wife,  and  then  may 
rise  to  the  rank  of  priest,  and  arch-priest,  but  he 
cannot  be  made  a  bishop,  unless  he  is  a  widower 
and  a  monk. 

Peter  forbid  all  parish-priests  from  bringing  up 
more  than  one  son  to  the  service  of  the  church, 
anleas  it  was  particularly  desired  by  the  parish- 
ioners ;  and  this  he  did,  lest  a  numerous  family 
might  in  time  come  to  tyrannize  over  the  parish. 
We  may  perceive  in  these  little  circumstances  re- 
lating to  church-government,  that  the  legislator 
had  always  the  good  of  the  state  in  view,  and  that 
he  took  every  precaution   to  make  the  clergy 


554  HISTORY  OF 

properly  respected,  with  out  being  dangerous,  acd 

that   they  should   be   neither   contemptible   nor 

powerful. 

In  those  curious  memoirs,  composed  by  an  of- 
ficer who  was  a  particular  favourite  of  Peter  the 
Great,  I  find  the  following  anecdote  :  —  One  day 
a  person  reading  to  the  czar  that  number  of  the 
English  Spectator,  in  which  a  parallel  is  drawn 
between  him  and  Lewis  XIV.  '1  do  not  think,' 
said  Peter,  '  that  I  deserve  the  preference  that  is 
here  given  me  over  that  monarch  ;  but  I  have 
been  fortunate  enough  to  have  the  superiority 
over  him  in  one  essential  point,  namely,  that  of 
having  obliged  my  clergy  to  live  in  peace  and 
submission  ;  whereas  mv  brother  Lewis  has  suf- 
fered himself  to  be  ruled  bv  his.' 

A  prince,  whose  days  were  almost  wholly  spent 
in  the  fatigues  of  war,  and  his  nights  in  the  com- 
piling laws  for  the  better  government  of  so  large 
an  empire,  andm  directing  so  many  great  labours, 
through  a  space  of  two  thousand  leagues,  must 
stand  in  need  of  some  hours  of  amusement.  Diver- 
sions at  that  time  were  neither  so  noble  or  elegant 
as  they  now  are,  and  therefore  we  must  not  wonder 
if  Peter  amused  himself  with  the  entertainment 
of  the  sham  conclave,  of  which  mention  has  been 
already  made,  and  other  diversions  of  the  same 
stamp,  which  were  frequently  at  the  expense  of 
the  Romish  church,  to  which  he  had  a  great  dis- 
like, and  which  was  very  pardonable  in  a  prince 
of  the  Greek  communion,  who  was  determined  to 
be  master  in  his  own  dominions.  He  likewise 
gave  several  entertainments  of  the  same  kind  at 
the  expense  of  the  monks  of  his  o'wn  country  ;  but 
of  the  ancient  monks,  whose  follies  and  bigotry 
he  wished  to  ridicule,  while  he  strove  to  reform 
tlie  new. 

We  have  already  seen  that  previous  to  hispob* 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  355 

lisliiag  bis  church-laws,  he  created  one  of  his  fools 
pope,  and  celebrated  the  feast  of  the  sham  con- 
clave. This  fool,  whose  name  was  Jotof,  was 
between  eighty  and  ninety.  The  czar  took  it  into 
bis  head  to  make  him  marry  an  old  widow  of  his 
own  age,  and  to  have  their  nupiia!s  publicly  so- 
lemnized ;  he  caused  the  invitation  to  the  mar- 
riage guests  to  be  made  by  four  persons  who  were 
remarkable  for  stammering.  The  bride  was  con- 
ducted to  church  by  decrepit  old  men,  four  of  the 
most  bulky  men  that  could  be  found  in  Russia 
acted  as  running  footmen.  The  music  were  seated 
in  a  waggon  drawn  by  bears,  whom  they  every 
now  and  then  pricked  with  goads  of  iron,  and 
who,  by  their  roaring,  formed  a  full  base,  per- 
fectly agreeable  to  the  concert  in  the  cart.  The 
married  couple  received  the  benediction  in  the 
cathedral  from  the  hands  of  a  deaf  and  blind 
priest,  who,  to  appear  more  ridiculous,  wore  a 
large  pair  of  spectacles  on  his  nose.  The  pro- 
cession, the  wedding,  the  marriage-feast,  the  un- 
dressing anil  putting  to  bed  of  the  bride  and  bride- 
groom, were  all  of  a  piece  with  the  rest  of  this 
burlesque  ceremony. 

We  may  perhaps  be  apt  to  look  upon  this  as  a 
trivial  and  ridiculous  entertainment  for  a  great 
prince  ;  but  is  it  more  so  than  our  carnival  ?  or 
to  see  five  or  six  Imndred  persons  with  masks  on 
their  faces,  and  dressed  in  the  most  ridiculous 
manner,  skipping  and  jumping  about  togetlier, 
for  a  whole  night  in  a  large  room,  without  speak- 
ing a  word  to  each  other  ? 

In  fine,  were  the  ancient  feasts  of  the  fools  and 
the  ass,  and  the  abbot  of  the  cuckolds,  which 
were  formerly  celebrated  in  our  churches,  much 
superior,  or  did  our  comedies  of  the  foolish  mo- 
ther exhibit  marks  of  a  greater  genius? 


356  HISTORY  OF 

CHAP.    XXXIV. 

The  congress  of  Aland  or  Oeland.      Death  of 
Charles Xr I., Sec.    The  treatv  of  Nystadt. 

T^HESE  immense  labours,  this  minute  review  of 
the  v/hole  Russian  empire,  and  the  melan- 
choly proceedings  against  his  unhappy  son,  were 
not  the  only  objects  which  demanded  the  atten- 
tion of  the  czar  ;  it  was  necessary  to  secure  hira- 
aelf  without  doors,  at  the  same  time  that  he  was 
«ettling  order  and  tranquillity  within.  The  war 
with  Sweden  was  still  carried  on,  though  faintly, 
in  hopes  of  approaching  peace. 

It  is  a  known  fact,  that  in  the  year  1717,  car- 
dinal Alberoni,  prime  minister  to  Philip  V.  of 
Spain,  and  baron  Gortz,  who  had  gained  an  en- 
tire ascendant  over  the  mind  of  Charles  XII.  had 
concerted  a  project  to  change  the  face  of  affairs 
in  Europe,  by  effecting  a  reconciliation  between 
this  last  prince  and  the  czar,  driving  George  I. 
from  the  English  throne,  and  replacing  Stanislaus 
on  that  of  Poland,  while  cardinal  Alberoni  waa 
to  procure  the  regencv  of  France  for  his  master 
Philip.  Gortz.  as  has  been  already  observed, 
had  opened  his  mind  on  this  head  to  the  czar  him- 
self. Alberoni  had  begun  a  negotiation  with 
prince  Kourakin,  the  czar's  ambassador  at  the 
Hague,  by  means  of  the  Spanish  ambassador, 
Baretti  Landi,  a  native  of  Mantua,  who  had, 
like  the  cardinal,  quitted  his  ovna  country  to  live 
in  Spain. 

Thus  a  set  of  foreigners  were  about  to  overturn 
the  general  system,  for  masters  under  whose 
dominion  they  were  not  born,  or  rather  for  them- 
selves. Charles  XII.  gave  into  all  these  project*, 
and  the  czar  contented  himself  with  examining 
them  in  private.     Since  the  year  1716  be  had 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  357 

made  only  feeble  efforts  against  Sweden,  and 
those  rather  with  a  view  to  oblige  that  kingdom 
to  purchase  peace  by  restoring  those  places  it 
had  taken  in  the  course  of  the  war,  than  with  an 
intent  to  crush  it  altogether. 

The  baron  Gortz,  ever  active  and  indefatiga- 
ble in  his  projects,  had  prevailed  on  the  czar  to 
send  plenipotentiaries  to  the  island  of  Oeland  to 
set  on  foot  a  treaty  of  peace.  Bruce,  a  Scotch- 
man, and  grand  master  of  the  ordnance  in  Russia, 
and  the  famous  Osterman,  who  was  afterwards 
at  the  head  of  affairs,  arrived  at  the  place  ap- 
pointed for  the  congress  exactly  at  the  time  that 
the  czarowitz  was  put  under  arrest  at  Moscow. 
Gortz  and  Gillembourg  were  already  there  on  the 
part  of  Charles  XII.  both  impatient  to  bring  about 
a  reconciliation  between  that  prince  and  Peter, 
and  to  revenge  themselves  on  the  king  of  Eng- 
land It  was  an  extraordinary  circumstance  that 
there  should  be  a  congress,  and  no  cessation  of 
arms.  The  czar's  fleet  still  continued  cruising 
on  the  coasts  of  Sweden,  and  taking  the  ships  of 
that  nation.  Peter  thought  by  keeping  up  hosti- 
lities to  hasten  the  conclusion  of  a  peace,  of 
which  he  knew  the  Swedes  stood  greatly  in  need, 
and  which  must  prove  highly  glorious  to  the  con- 
queror. 

Notwithstanding  the  little  hostilities  which 
still  continued,  every  thing  bespoke  the  speedy 
approach  of  peace.  The  preliminaries  began 
by  mutual  acts  of  generosity,  which  produce 
stronger  efl^ecls  than  many  hand-writings.  The 
czar  sent  back  without  ransf)m  marshal  Erens- 
child,  whom  he  had  taken  prisoner  with  his  own 
hands,  and  Charles  in  return  did  the  same  bv 
Trubetskoy  and  Gallowin,  who  bad  continued  pri- 
soners in  Sweden  ever  since  the  battle  of  Narva. 

The  negotiations  now  advanced  apace,  and  a 


•J58  HISTORY  OF 

total  change  was  going  to  be  made  in  the  afikirt 
of  the  North.  Gortz  proposed  to  the  czar  to  pot 
the  duchy  of  !Mecklenburg  into  his  hands.  Duke 
Charles,  its  sovereign,  who  had  married  a  daughter 
of  czar  John.  Peter's  elder  brother,  was  at  vari- 
ance with  the  nobility  of  the  country,  who  had 
taken  arms  against  him.  And  Peter,  who  looked 
upon  that  prince  as  his  brother-ia-law,  had  an 
army  in  Mecklenburg  reaSy  to  espouse  his  cause. 
Thf  king  of  England,  elector  of  Hanover,  declared 
on  the  side  of  the  nobles.  Here  was  another 
opportunity  of  mortifying  the  king  of  England, 
by  putting  Peter  in  possession  of  Mecklenburg, 
who,  being  already  master  of  Livonia,  would  by 
this  means,  in  a  short  time,  become  more  powerful 
in  Germany  than  any  of  its  electors.  1  he  duchy 
of  Courland  was  to  be  given  to  the  duke  of  ^leclc- 
lenburg,  as  an  equivalent  for  his  own,  together 
with  a  part  of  Prussia  at  the  expense  of  Poland, 
who,  was  to  have  Stanislaus  again  for  her  king. 
Bremen  and  Verden  were  to  revert  to  Sweden  ; 
but  these  provinces  could  not  be  wrested  out  of 
the  hands  of  the  king  of  England  but  by  force  of 
arms  ;  accordingly  Gortz's  project  was  (^as  we 
have  already  said)  to  effect  a  firm  union  between 
Peter  and  Charles  XII.,  and  that  not  only  by  the 
bands  of  peace,  but  by  an  offensive  alliance,  in 
v/hich  case  they  were  jointly  to  send  an  anny 
into  Scotland.  Charles  XII.  after  having  made 
himself  master  of  Norway,  was  to  make  a  des- 
cent on  Great  Britain,  and  he  fondly  imagined 
he  should  be  able  to  set  a  new  sovereign  on  the 
throne  of  those  kingdoms,  after  having  replaced 
one  of  his  own  choosing  on  that  of  Poland.  Car- 
dmal  Alberoni  promised  both  Peter  and  Charles 
to  furnish  them  with  subsidies.  The  falj  of  the 
king  of  England  would,  it  was  supposed,  draw 
vith   it  that  of  his  ally,  the  regent  of  France, 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  359 

wbo  being  thus  deprived  of  all  support,  was  to 
fall  a  victim  to  the  victorious  arms  of  Spain,  and 
the  discontent  of  the  French  nation. 

Alberoni  and  Gortz  now  thought  themselves 
secure  of  totally  overturning  the  system  of  Europe, 
when  a  cannon  ball  from  the  bastions  of  Frede- 
ricksbal  in  Norway  confounded  all  their  mighty 
projects.  Charles  XII.  was  killed,  the  Spanish 
fleet  was  beaten  by  that  of  England,  the  con- 
spiracy which  had  been  formed  in  France  was  dis- 
covered and  quelled,  Alberoni  was  driven  out  of 
Spain,  and  Gortz  was  beheaded  at  Stockholm; 
and  of  all  this  formidable  league,  so  lately  made, 
the  czar  alone  retained  his  credit,  who  by  not 
having  put  himself  in  the  power  of  any  one,  gave 
law  to  all  his  neighbours. 

At  the  death  of  Charles  XII.  there  was  a 
total  change  of  measures  in  Sweden.  Charles 
had  governed  with  a  despotic  power,  and  his 
sister  Ulrica  was  elected  Queen  on  express  con- 
dition of  renouncing  arbitary  government.  Charles 
intended  to  form  an  alliance  with  the  czar  against 
England  and  its  allies,  and  the  new  government 
of  Sweden  now  joined  those  allies  against  the 
czar. 

The  congress  at  Oeland,  however,  was  not 
broken  up  ;  but  the  Swedes,  now  in  league  with 
the  English,  flattered  themselves  that  the  fleets  of 
that  nation  sent  into  the  Baltic  would  procure 
them  a  more  advantageous  peace.  A  body  of 
Hanoverian  troops  entered  the  dominions  of  the 
duke  of  Mecklenburg  (Feb.  1716.),  but  were 
soon  driven  from  thence  by  the  czar's  forces. 

Peter  likewise  had  a  body  of  troops  in  Poland, 
which  kept  in  awe  both  the  party  of  Augustus, 
and  that  of  Stanislaus  ;  and  as  to  Sweden,  he 
had  a  fleet  always  ready,  either  to  make  a  des- 
cent on  their  coasts,  or  to  oblige  the  Swedish 


360  HISTORY  OF 

government  to  hasten  mitters  in  tbe  congress. 
This  fleet  consisted  of  twelve  large  ships  of  the 
line,  and  several  lesser  ones,  besides  frigates  and 
galleys.  The  czar  served  on  board  this  fleet  as 
vice-admiral,  under  the  command  of  admiral 
Apraxin. 

A  part  of  this  fleet  signalized  itself  in  the  be- 
ginning against  a  Swedish  squadron,  and,  after 
an  obstinate  engagement,  took  one  ship  of  the 
line,  and  two  frigates.  Peter,  who  constantly  en- 
deavoured, bv  everr  possible  means,  to  encou- 
rage and  improve  the  navy  he  had  been  at  so 
much  pains  to  establish,  gave,  on  this  occasion, 
sixty  thousand  French  livres*  in  money  among 
the  officers  of  this  squadron,  with  several  gold 
medals,  besides  conferring  marks  of  honour  on 
those  who  principally  distinguished  themselves. 

About  this  time  also  the  English  fleet  under 
admiral  Norris  came  up  the  Baltic,  in  order  to 
favour  the  Swedes.  Peter,  who  well  knew  how 
far  he  could  depend  on  his  new  navy,  was  not  to 
be  frightened  by  the  English,  but  boldly  kept  the 
sea,  and  sent  to  know  of  the  English  admiral  if 
he  was  come  only  as  a  friend  to  the  Swedes,  or  as 
an  enemy  to  Russia?  The  admiral  returned  for 
answer,  that  he  had  not  as  yet  any  positive  orders 
from  his  court  on  that  head  :  however  Peter,  not- 
withstanding this  equivocal  reply,  continued  to 
keep  the  sea  with  his  fleet. 

The  English  fleet,  which  in  fact  was  come 
thither  only  to  shew  itself,  and  thereby  induce 
the  czar  to  grant  more  favourable  conditions  of 
peace  to  the  Swedes,  went  to  Copenhagen,  and 
the  Russians  made  some  descents  on  the  Swedish 
coast,  and  even  iu  the  neighbourhood  of  Copen- 
hagen, (July  1719.)  where  they  destroyed  some 
copper  mines,  burnt  about  fifteen  thousand  hooses, 
•  About  three  thousand  pounds  sterling. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  361 

and  did  mischief  enough  to  make  the  Swede* 
heartily  wish  for  a  speedy  conclusion  of  the  peace. 
Accordingly  the  new  queen  of  Sweden  pressed 
a  renewal  of  the  negotiations  ;  Osterman  hina- 
self  was  sent  to  Stockholm,  and  matters  con- 
tinued in  this  situation  during  the  whole  of  the 
pear  1719. 

The  following  year  the  prince  of  Hesse,  husband 
to  the  queen  of  Sweden,  and  now  become  king,  in 
Tirtue  of  her  havin  g  yielded  up  the  sovereign  power 
in  his  favour,  began  bis  reign  by  sending  a  minister 
to  the  court  of  Petersburg,  in  order  to  hasten  the 
80  much  desired  peace ;  but  the  war  was  still 
carried  on  in  the  midst  of  these  negotiations. 

The  English  fleet  joined  that  of  the  Swedes, 
but  did  not  yet  commit  any  hostilities,  as  there 
was  no  open  rupture  betwet^n  the  courts  of  Rus- 
sia and  England,  and  admiral  Norris  even  offered 
his  master's  mediation  towards  bringing  about  a 
peace  ;  but  as  this  offer  was  made  with  arms  in 
hand,  it  rather  retarded  than  facilitated  the  nego- 
tiations. The  coasts  of  Sweden,  and  those  of 
the  new  Russian  provinces  in  the  Baltic,  are  so 
situated,  that  the  former  lay  open  to  every  insult, 
while  the  latter  are  secured  by  their  diflScult  ac- 
cess. This  was  clearly  seen  when  admiral  Nor- 
ris, after  having  thrown  off  the  mask, (June  1720.) 
made  a  descent  in  conjunction  with  the  Swedish 
fleet  on  a  little  island  in  the  province  of  Estho- 
nia,  called  Narguen,  which  belonged  to  the  czar, 
where  they  only  burnt  a  peasant's  house  ;  but 
the  R\is8itins  at  the  same  time  made  a  descent 
near  Wasa,  and  burnt  forty-one  villages,  and  up- 
wards of  one  •housand  houses,  and  did  an  infinite 
deal  of  damage  to  the  country  round  about. 
Prince  Galitzin  boarded  and  took  four  Swedish 
frigates,  and  the  English  admiral  seemed  to  have 
tome  only  to  be  spectator  of  that  pitch  of  glory 


362  HISTORY  OF 

to  which  the  czar  had  raised  his  infant  navy  ;  for 
he  had  but  just  shewn  himself  in  those  seas,  when 
the  Swedish  frigates  were  carried  in  triumph  into 
the  harbour  of  Cronslot  before  Petersburg.*  On 
this  occasions  methinks  the  English  did  too  much 
if  they  came  only  as  mediators,  and  too  little  if 
as  enemies. 

Nov.  17'20.]  At  length,  the  new  king  of 
Sweden  demanded  a  cessation  of  arms  ;  and  as 
he  found  the  menaces  of  the  English  had  stood 
him  in  no  stead,  he  had  recourse  to  the  duke  of 
Orleans,  the  French  regent ;  and  this  prince,  at 
once  an  ally  of  Russia  and  Sweden,  had  the 
honour  of  effecting  a  reconciliation  between 
them.  (Feb.  i7'/l.)  He  sent  Campredon,  his 
plenipotentiary,  to  the  court  of  Petersburg,  and 
from  thence  to  that  of  Stockholm.  A  congress 
was  opened  at  Nystadt,+  but  the  C2ar  would  not 
agree  to  a  cessation  of  arras  till  matiers  were  on 
the  point  of  being  concluded  and  the  })lenipotcn- 
tiaries  ready  to  sign.  He  had  an  army  in  Fin- 
land ready  to  subdue  the  rest  of  that  province, 
and  his  fleets  were  continually  threatening  the 
Swedish  coasts,  so  that  he  seemed  absolute 
master  of  dictating  the  terms  of  peace  ;  accord- 
ingly they  subscribed  to  whatever  he  thought  fit 
to  demand.  By  this  treaty  he  wa«  to  remain  in 
perpetual  possession  of  all  that  his  arms  had 
conquered,  from  the  borders  of  Courland  to  the 
extremity  of  the  gulf  of  Finland,  and  from  thence 
again  of  the  whole  extent  of  the  country  of  Kex- 

•  The  czar  celebrated  this  victory  by  a  naval  triamph 
ut  Petersburg,  caused  a  gold  medal  lo  be  struck  to  per- 
petuate the  glory  of  the  action,  presented  prince  Galitzia 
with  a  aword  set  with  diamonds,  and  distributed  a  large 
•am  of  money  among  the  officers  and  sailors  who  bad 
given  such  signal  proofs  of  their  valour. 

t  A  iutle  to  vn  of  the  Eothnick  gull"  in  Isorth  FinlaBc) 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  363 

holm,  and  that  narrow  slip  of  Fiuland  which 
stretches  out  to  the  northward  of  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Kexholm  ;  so  that  he  remained  master 
of  all  Livonia,  Esthonia,  Ingria,  Carelia.with  the 
country  of  Wybourg,  and  the  neighbouring  isles, 
which  secured  to  him  the  sovereignty  of  the  sea, 
as  likewise  of  the  isles  of  Oessel,  Dago,  Mona, 
and  several  others :  the  whole  forming  an  ex- 
tent of  three  thousand  leagues  of  country,  of  un- 
equal breadth,  and  which  altogether  made  a 
large  kingdom,  that  proved  the  reward  of  twenty 
years'  immense  pains  and  labour. 

The  peace  was  signed  at  Nystadt  the  lOtli 
September,  1721,  N.  S.  by  the  Russian  ministei 
Osterman,  and  general  Bruce. 

Peter  was  the  more  rejoiced  at  that  event,  as 
it  freed  him  from  the  necessity  of  keeping  such 
large  armies  on  the  frontiers  of  Sweden,  as  also 
from  any  apprehensions  on  the  part  of  England, 
or  of  the  neighbouring  states,  and  left  him  at  full 
liberty  to  exert  his  whole  attention  to  the  model- 
ling of  his  empire,  in  which  he  had  already 
made  so  successful  a  beginning,  and  to  cherish 
arts  and  commerce,  which  he  had  introduced 
among  his  subjects,  at  the  expense  of  infinite  la- 
bour and  industry.  f 

In  the  first  transports  of  his  satisfaction,  we 
find  him  writing  in  these  terras  to  his  plenipo- 
tentiaries;  '  You  have  drawn  up  the  treaty  as  if 
we  ourself  had  dictated  and  sent  it  to  you  to  offer 
the  Swedes  to  sign.  This  glorious  event  shall  be 
ever  present  to  our  remembrance.' 

All  degrees  of  people,  throughout  the  Russian 
empire,  gave  proofs  of  their  satisfaction,  by  the 
most  extraordinary  rejoicings  of  all  kinds,  and 
particularly  at  Petersburg.  The  triumphal  fes- 
tivals, with  which  the  czar  had  entertained  hia 
people  during  the  course  of  the  war,  were    no- 


364  HISTORY  OF 

thing  to  compare  to  these  rejoicipgs  for  (he  peace, 
which  every  one  hailed  with  unutterable  satia« 
factioE.  Th°  peace  itself  was  the  most  glorious 
of  all  his  triumphs  ;  and  what  pleased  more  than 
all  the  pompous  shows  on  the  occasion,  was  a 
free  pardon  and  general  release  granted  to  all 
prisoners,  and  a  general  remission  of  all  sums 
due  to  the  royal  treasury  for  taxes  throughout 
the  whole  empire,  to  the  day  of  the  publication 
of  the  peace.  In  consequence  of  which  a  mul- 
titude of  unhappy  wretches,  who  had  been  con- 
fined in  prison,  were  set  at  liberty,  excepting 
only  those  guilty  of  highway-robbery,  murder,  or 
treason.* 


•  Notwithstanding  the  great  rejoicings  made  on  this  oc- 
casion, Peter  was  no«-ays  inattentive  to  the  aflfairs  of  state  ; 
but  held  frequent  councils  thereon  :  and  being  desirous, 
as  Lis  son  Peter  Peirowitz  was  dead,  to  settle  the  sncces- 
8ion  on  a  prince  who  would  follow  his  maxims,  and  pro- 
secute the  great  designs  which  he  had  begun  for  civilizing 
his  people,  he  ordered  public  notice  to  be  given,  on  the 
£3d  of  February,  to  all  his  subjects  inhabiting  the  city  of 
Moscow,  to  repair  the  next  daj'  to  Castle-church  ;  which 
they  having  done,  printed  papers  were  delivered  to  them 
all,  signifj  ing, '  That  it  was  his  imperialmajesty's  pleasure, 
that  every  man  should  swear,  and  give  under  his  hand, 
that  he  would  not  only  approve  the  choice  his  majesty 
would  make  of  a  successor,  but  acknowledge  the  person 
he  should  appoint  as  emperor  and  sovereign.'  An  order 
was  likewise  published  a  few  days  after  at  Petersburg, 
requirinjr  the  magistrates  and  all  persons  to  subscribe  the 
same  declaration  ;  and  all  the  grandees  of  the  empire  wer« 
commanded,  on  pain  of  death  and  confiscation,  to  repair 
to  Moscow  by  the  latter  end  of  March  for  that  purpose, 
except  tliose  inhabiting  Astracan  and  Siberia,  who,  \iving 
at  too  great  a  distance,  were  excused  from  giving  their 
personal  attendance,  aad  permitted  to  subscribe  before 
their  respective  governors.  This  oath  was  readily  taken 
by  all  ranks  and  degrees  of  the  people,  who  were  well 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  365 

It  was  at  this  time  that  the  senate  decreed 
Peter  the  titles  of  Great,  Emperor,  and  Father  cf 
his  Country.  Count  Golofkin,  the  high  chan- 
cellor, made  a  speech  to  the  czar  in  the  great 
catJiedral,  in  the  name  of  ail  the  orders  of  the 
6tate,  the  senators  crying  aloud,  Long  live  our 
emperor  and  faiher  !  in  which  acclamations  they 
were  joined  by  the  united  voice  of  all  the  people 
present.  The  ministers  of  France,  Germany, 
Poland,  Denmark,  and  the  states-general,  waited 
on  him,  with  their  congratulations,  on  the  titles 
lately  bestowed  on  him,  and  formally  acknow- 
ledged for  emperor  him  who  had  been  always 
publicly  known  in  Holland  by  that  title,  ever 
since  the  battle  of  Pultowa.  The  names  of  Fa- 
ther, and  of  Great,  were  glorious  epithets, 
which  no  one  in  Europe  could  dispute  him  ;  that 
of  Emperor  was  only  a  honorary  title,  given  by 
custom  to  the  sovereigns  of  Germany,  as  titular 
kings  of  the  Romans  ;  and  it  requires  time  be- 
fore sucli  appellations  come  to  be  formally  adopt- 
ed by  those  courts  where  forms  of  state  and  real 
glory  are  different  things.  But  Peter  was  in  a 
short  time  after  acknowledged  emperor  by  all 
the  states  of  Europe,  excepting  only  that  of  Po- 
land, wliich  was  still  divided  by  factions,  and  the 
pope,  whose  suffrage  was  become  of  very  little 
significance,  since  the  court  of  Rome  had  lost  its 
credit  in  proportion  as  other  nations  became 
more  enlightened. 

assnred  that  their  emperor  would  mak«  choice  of  on* 
who  was  every  wa3' won h J  of  the  succesaion,  and  capable 
of  6upf»orii:ifj  the  dignity  intended  for  him  :  but  they 
were  still  in  the  dark  as  to  the  identical  person,  though  it 
was  generally  believed  to  be  prince  Nari^kin,  who  wa« 
nearly  related  to  the  emperor,  and  allowed  to  have  all  the 
qnalitifs  requisite  for  his  successor  :  but  a  little  tinM 
fhf  v/1  tlirm,  that  tb's  conjecture  was  groundless. 


366  HISTORY  OF 

CHAP.     XXXV. 

Couqueats  in  Persia. 

T^HE  sita\tion  of  Russia  is  such,  as  necessarily 
obliges  her  to  keep  up  certain  connexions 
with  all  the  nations  that  lie  in  the  fifth  degree  of 
north  latitude.  When  under  a  bad  administra- 
tion, she  was  a  prey  by  turns  to  the  Tartars,  the 
Swedes,  and  the  Poles  ;  but  when  governed  by  a 
resolute  and  vigorous  prince,  she  became  formi- 
dable to  all  her  neighbours.  Peter  began  his 
reign  by  an  advantageous  treaty  with  the  Chinese. 
He  had  waged  war  at  one  and  the  same  time 
against  the  Swedes  and  the  Turks,  and  now  pre- 
pared to  lead  his  victorious  armies  into  Persia. 

At  this  time  Persia  began  to  fall  into  that  de- 
plorable state,  in  which  we  now  behold  her.  Let 
us  figure  to  ourselves  the  thirty  years'  war  in 
Germany,  the  times  of  the  league,  those  of  the 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew,  and  the  reigns  of 
Charles  VI.  and  of  king  John  in  France,  the  civil 
wars  in  England,  the  long  and  horrible  ravages 
of  the  whole  Russian  empire  by  the  Tartars,  or 
their  invasion  of  China  ;  and  then  we  shall  have 
some  slight  conception  of  the  miseries  under 
which  the  Persian  empire  has  so  long  groaned. 

A  weak  and  indolent  prince,  and  a  powerful 
and  enterprising  subject,  are  sufficient  to  plunge  a 
whole  nation  into  such  an  abyss  of  disasters.  Hus 
sein,  sha,  shaic,  or  sophi  of  Persia,  a  descendant 
of  the  great  sha  Abbas,  who  sat  at  this  time  on 
the  throne  of  Persia,  had  given  himself  wholly  up 
to  luxury  and  eflFeminacy  :  his  prime  minister 
committed  acts  of  the  greatest  violence  and  in- 
justice, which  this  great  prince  winked  at,  and 
this  gave  rise  to  forty  years'  desolation  and  blood- 
shed. 


PETER  THE  GllEAF.  367 

Persia,  like  Turkey,  has  several  provinces,  all 
governed  in  a  different  manner  ;  she  has  subjects 
immediately  under  her  dominion,  vassals,  tribu- 
tary princes,  and  even  nations,  to  whom  the  court 
was  wont  to  pay  a  tribute,  under  the  name  of 
subsidies ;  for  instance,  the  people  of  Daghestan, 
who  inhabit  the  branches  of  mount  Caucasus,  to 
the  westward  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  which  was 
formerly  a  part  of  the  ancient  Albania  ;  for  all 
nations  have  changed  their  appellation  and  their 
limits.  These  are  now  called  Lesgians,  and  are 
mountaineers,  who  are  rather  under  the  protec- 
tion, than  the  dominion,  of  Persia  ;  to  these  the 
government  paid  subsidies  for  defending  the 
frontiers. 

At  the  other  extremity  of  the  empire,  towarde 
the  Indies,  was  the  prince  of  Candahar,  who  com- 
manded a  kind  of  martial  militia,  called  Aghwans. 
This  prince  of  Candahar  was  a  vassal  of  the  Per- 
sian, as  the  hospodars  of  Walachia  and  Moldavia 
are  of  the  Turkish  empire  :  this  vassalage  was 
not  hereditary,  but  exactly  the  same  with  the 
ancient  feudal  tenures  established  throughout 
Europe,  by  that  race  of  Tartars  who  overthrew 
the  Roman  empire.  'J'he  Aghwan  militia,  of 
which  the  prince  of  Candahar  was  the  head,  was 
the  same  with  the  Albanians  on  the  coasts  of  the 
Caspian  Sea,  in  the  neigbourhood  of  Daghestan, 
and  a  mixture  of  Circassians  and  Georgians,  like 
the  ancient  .Mamelucks  who  enslaved  Egypt.  The 
name  of  Aghwans  is  a  corruption  ;  Timur,  whom 
we  call  Tamerlane,  had  led  these  people  into 
India,  and  they  remained  settled  in  the  province 
of  Candahar,  which  sometimes  belonged  to  t\n- 
Mogul  empire,  and  sometimes  to  that  of  IVrsia- 
It  was  these  Aohwans  and  Lesgians  who  begar 
the  revolution. 

Mir-Weis,  or  Meriwitz,  intendant  of  the  pro- 


368  HISTORY  OF 

vince,  whose  office  was  only  to  collect  (he  tributes, 
assassinated  the  prince  of  Candahar,  armed  the 
militia,  and  continued  master  of  the  province  till 
his  death,  which  happened  in  1717.  His  brother 
came  quietly  to  the  succession,  by  paying  a  slight 
tribute  to  the  Persian  court.  But  the  son  of  Mir- 
Weis,  who  inherited  the  ambition  of  his  father, 
assassinated  his  uncle,  and  began  to  erect  him- 
self into  a  conqueror.  This  young  man  was  called 
Mir-Mahmoud,  but  he  was  known  in  Europe  only 
by  the  name  of  his  father,  who  had  begun  the  re- 
bellion. Mahmoud  reinforced  his  Aghwans,  by 
adding  to  them  all  the  Guebres  he  could  get  to- 
gether. These  Guebres  were  an  ancient  race  of 
Persians,  who  had  been  dispersed  by  the  caliph 
Omar,  and  who  still  continued  attached  to  the  re- 
ligion of  the  Magi  (formerly  flourished  in  the 
reign  of  Cyrus),  and  were  always  secret  enemies 
to  the  new  Persians.  Having  assembled  his  forces, 
Mahmoud  marched  into  the  heart  of  Persia,  at 
the  head  of  a  hundred  thousand  men. 

At  the  same  time  the  Lesgians  or  Albanians, 
who,  on  account  of  the  troublesome  times,  had  not 
received  their  subsidies  from  the  court  of  Persia, 
came  down  from  their  mountains  with  an  armed 
force,  so  that  the  flames  of  civil  war  were  lighted 
up  at  both  ends  of  the  empire,  and  extended  them- 
selves even  to  the  capital. 

These  Lesgians  ravaged  all  that  country  which 
stretches  along  the  western  borders  of  the  Caspian 
bea,  as  far  as  Derbent,  or  the  Iron  Gate.  In 
this  country  is  situated  the  city  of  Shamache, 
atjout  lifteen  leagues  distant  from  the  sea,  and  is 
Kaid  to  have  been  the  ancient  residence  of  Cyrus, 
and  by  the  Greeks  called  Cyropolis,  for  we  know 
nothing  of  the  situation  or  names  of  these  coun- 
tries, but  what  we  have  from  the  Greeks  ;  butM 
the  Persians  never  had  a  prince  called  Gym*, 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  369 

much  less  had  they  any  city  called  CyropoJis  It 
i^  much  iu  the  same  manner  that  the  Jews,  who 
commenced  authors  when  they  were  settled  in 
Alexandria,  framed  a  notion  of  a  city  called 
Scythopolis,  which,  said  they,  was  built  by  the 
Scythians  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Judea,  as  if 
either  Scythians  or  ancient  Jews  could  iiave 
given  Greek  names  to  their  towns. 

The  city  of  Shamache  was  very  rich.  The 
Armenians,  who  inhabit  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
this  part  of  the  Persian  empire,  carried  on  an 
immense  traffic  there,  and  Peter  had  lately  esta- 
blished a  company  of  Russian  merchants  at  his 
own  expense,  which  company  became  very 
flourishing.  The  Lesgians  made  themselves 
masters  of  this  city  by  surprise,  plundered  it,  and 
put  to  death  all  the  Russians  who  traded  there 
under  the  protection  of  shah  Hussein,  after  hav- 
ing stripped  all  their  warehouses.  The  loss  on 
this  occasion  was  said  to  amount  to  four  millions 
of  rubles. 

Peter  upon  this  sent  to  demand  satisfaction  of 
the  emperor  Hussein,  who  was  then  disputing  the 
throne  with  the  rebel  Mahmoud,  who  had  usurped 
it,  and  likewise  of  IMahmoud  himself,  'ihe  former 
of  these  was  willing  to  do  the  czar  justice,  tlie 
other  refused  it  ;  Peter  therefore  resolved  to  nght 
himself,  and  take  advantage  of  the  di.stractiona 
in  the  Per.'^ian  empire. 

Alir-Mahmoud  still  pushed  bis  conquests  in 
Persia.  The  soj)hi  hearing  that  the  emjiero^  of 
Russia  was  prejiaring  to  enter  the  Caspian  Sea, 
iu  order  to  revenge  the  murder  of  his  Mjhjects  at 
Shamache,  made  private  apjilicati(;n  to  him,  by 
jueans  of  an  Armenian,  to  take  upon  him  at  the 
same  lime  the  deff-nre  of  Persia. 

Peter  had  for  a  considerable  time  formed  <^ 
urojert  to  mak?  himself  master  of  the  Caspi:ui 


370  HISTORY  OF 

Sea,  by  ntians  of  a  powerful  naval  force,  and  to 
turn  the  tide  of  commerce  from  Persia  and  apart 
of  India  through  his  own  dominions.  FTe  had 
caused  several  parts  of  this  sea  to  be  sounded, 
the  coasts  to  be  surveyed,  and  exact  charts  made 
of  the  whole.  He  then  set  sail  for  the  coast  of 
Persia  the  15th  day  of  May,  172'.^.  Catherine 
accompanied  him  in  this  voyage,  as  she  had  done 
in  the  former.  They  sailed  down  the  Wolga  as 
far  as  the  city  of  Astreican.  From  thence  he 
hastened  to  forward  the  canals  which  were  to 
join  the  Caspian,  the  Baltic,  and  the  Euxine 
seas,  a  work  which  has  been  since  executed  in 
part  under  the  reign  of  his  grandson. 

While  he  was  directing  these  works,  the  neces- 
sary provisions  for  his  expedition  were  arrived 
in  the  Caspian  Sea.  He  was  to  take  with  him 
twenty-two  thousand  foot,  nine  thousand  dra- 
goons, fifteen  thousand  Cossacks,  and  three  thou- 
sand seamen,  wlio  were  to  work  the  ships,  and 
occasionally  assist  the  soldiery  in  making  descents 
on  the  coast.  The  horse  were  to  march  over 
land  through  deserts  where  there  was  frequently 
no  water  to  be  had,  and  afterwards  to  pass  over 
the  mountains  of  Caucasus,  where  three  hundred 
men  are  sufficient  to  stop  the  progress  of  a  whole 
army  ;  but  the  distracted  condition  in  which 
Persia  then  was,  warranted  the  most  hazardous 
enterprises. 

The  czar  sailed  about  a  hundred  leagues  to  the 
.southward  of  Astracan,  till  he  came  to  the  little 
town  of  Andrewhoff.  It  may  appear  extraordi- 
nary to  hear  of  the  name  of  Andrew  on  the  coasts 
of  the  Hyrcanian  Sea  ;  but  some  Georgians,  who 
were  formerly  a  sect  of  Christians,  had  built  this 
town,  which  the  Persians  afterwards  fortified  ; 
but  it  fell  an  easy  prey  to  the  czar's  arms.  From 
thence  he  continued  advancing  by  land  into  the 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  371 

province  of  Daghestau,  and  caused  manifestoes 
to  be  circulated  in  the  Turkish  and  Persian  lan- 
guages.* It  was  necessary  to  keep  fair  with  the 
Ottoman  Porte,  who  reckoned  among  its  sub- 
jects, not  only  the  Circassians  and  Georgians, 
who  border  upon  this  country,  but  also  several 
powerful  vassals,  who  had  of  late  put  themselves 
under  the  protection  of  the  grand  seignior. 

Among  others  there  was  one  very  powerful, 
named  Mahmoud  d'Utmich,  who  took  the  title 
of  sultan,  and  had  the  courage  to  attack  the  czar's 
troops,  by  which  he  was  totally  defeated,  and 
the  story  says,  that  his  whole  country  was  made 
a  bonfire  on  the  occasion. 

Sept.  14,  1722.]  In  a  short  time  afterwards 
Peter  arrived  at  the  city  of  Derbent,  by  the  Per- 
sians and  Turks  called  Demir  Capi,  that  is,  the 
Iron  Gate,  and  so  named  from  having  formerly 
had  an  iron  gate  at  the  south  entrance.  The 
city  is  long  and  narrow,  its  upper  part  joins  to  a 
rocky  branch  of  IMount  Caucasus,  and  the  walls 
of  the  lower  part  are  washed  by  the  sea,  which 
in  violent  htorms  make  a  breach  over  them.  These 
walls  might  jjass  for  one  of  the  wonders  of  an- 
tiquity, being  forty  feet  in  height,  and  six  in 
breadth,  defended  with  square  towers  at  the  dis- 
tance of  every  fifty  feet.  The  whole  work  seems 
one  uniform  piece,  and  is  built  of  a  sort  of  brown 
free-stone   mixed    with   pounded   shells,  which 

•  These  be  published  and  distributed  along  the  bor- 
ders of  the  Caspian  Sea,  therein  declaring — That  h« 
came  not  npoa  the  frontiers  of  Persia,  with  an  intention 
of  reducing  any  of  the  provinres  of  that  kingdom  to  bis 
obedience,  but  only  to  maintain  the  lawful  possessor  of 
them  on  bis  throne,  and  to  defend  him  jjowerfully,  toge- 
Mrilh  his  faithful  subjects,  against  the  tyranny  of  Mir 
IVlahmoud,  and  to  obtain  satisfaction  from  him  and  his 
Tartars,  fur  the  robberies  and  mittchiL-fs  which  they  had 
ooinmitted  in  the  Russian  empire. 


372  HISTORY  OF 

served  as  mortar,  so  that  the  whole  forms  a  mass 
harder  than  marble.  The  city  lies  open  from  the 
sea,  but  part  of  it  next  the  land  appears  impreg- 
nable. There  are  still  some  ruins  of  an  old  wall 
like  that  of  China,  which  must  have  been  built 
in  the  earliest  times  of  antiquity,  and  stretched 
from  the  borders  of  the  Caspian  Sea  to  the  Pon- 
tus  Euxiuus  ;  and  this  was  probably  a  rampart 
raised  by  the  ancient  kings  of  Persia  against 
those  swarms  of  barbarians  which  dwelt  between 
those  two  seas. 

According  to  the  Persian  tradiiion,  the  city  of 
Derbent  was  partly  repaired  and  fortified  by 
Alexander  the  Great.  Arrian  and  Quintus  Cur- 
tius  tell  us,  that  Alexander  absolutely  rebuilt  this 
city.  They  say  indeed  that  it  was  on  the  banks  of 
the  Tanais  or  Don,  but  then  in  their  time  the 
Greeks  gave  the  name  of  Tanais  to  the  river  Cy- 
rus, which  runs  by  the  city.  It  would  be  a  con- 
tradiction to  suppose  that  Alexander  should  build 
a  harbour  in  the  Caspian  Sea,  on  a  river  that 
opens  into  the  Black  Sea. 

There  were  formerly  three  or  four  other  porta 
in  different  parts  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  all  which 
were  probably  built  with  the  same  view  ;  for  the 
several  nations  inhabiting  to  the  west,  east,  and 
north  of  that  sea,  have  in  all  times  been  barba- 
rians, who  had  rendered  themselves  formidable 
to  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  from  hence  princi- 
pally issued  those  swarms  of  conquerors  who  sub- 
jugated Asia  and  Europe. 

And  here  I  must  beg  leave  to  remark,  how 
much  pleasure  authors  in  all  ages  have  taken  to 
impose  upon  mankind,  and  how  much  they  have 
preferred  a  vain  show  of  eloquence  to  matter  of 
fact.  Qaintus  Curtius  puts  into  the  mouths  of 
Scythians  an  admirable  speech  full  of  moderation 
and  philosophy,  as  if  the  Tartars  of  those  regiont 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  373 

had  been  all  so  many  sages,  and  that  Alexander 
had  not  been  the  general  nominated  by  the  Ureeks 
against  the  king  of  Persia,  sovereign  of  the  great- 
est part  of  southern  Scythia  and  the  Indies.  Other 
rhetoricians,  thinking  to  imitate  Qiiintus  Cur- 
tius,  have  studied  to  make  us  look  upon  those 
savages  of  Caucacus  anJ  its  dreary  deserts,  who 
lived  wholly  upon  rapine  and  bloodshed,  as  the 
people  in  the  world  most  remarkable  for  austere 
virtue  and  justice,  and  have  painted  Alexander, 
the  avenger  of  Greece,  and  the  conqueror  of  those 
who  would  have  enslaved  him  and  his  country, 
as  a  public  robber,  vvho  had  ravaged  the  world 
without  justice  or  reason. 

Such  writers  do  not  consider,  that  these  Tar- 
tars were  never  otlier  than  destroyers,  and  that 
Alexarider  built  towns  in  the  very  country  which 
they  inhabited  •,  and  in  this  respect  1  may  ven- 
ture to  coaipare  Peter  the  Great  to  Alexander  , 
like  him  he  was  assiduous  and  indefatigable  in 
his  pursuits,  a  lover  and  friend  of  the  useful  arts  ; 
he  surpassed  him  as  a  lawgiver,  and  like  him 
endeavoured  to  change  the  tide  of  commerce  in 
the  world,  and  built  and  repaired  at  least  as 
many  towns  as  that  celebrated  hero  of  antiquity. 

On  the  approach  of  the  Russian  army,  the 
governor  of  Derbent  resolved  not  to  sustain  a 
siege,  whether  he  thought  he  was  not  able  to  de- 
fend the  place,  or  that  he  preferred  the  czar's 
protection  to  that  of  the  tyrant  Mahmoud ; 
brought  the  keys  of  the  town  and  citadel  (which 
were  silver)  and  presented  them  to  Peter,  whose 
army  pea':eably  entered  the  city,  and  then  en- 
ramped  on  the  sea- shore. 

riie  usurper,  Mahmoud,  already  master  of 
great  part  of  Persia,  in  vain  endeavoured  to  pre- 
vent file  czar  from  taking  possession  of  Derbent : 
he   stirred    up   the   neighbouring   Tartars,   and 


374  HISTORY  OF 

marched  into  Persia  to  the  relief  of  the  place  ; 
but,  too  late,  for  Derbent  was  already  in  the  hands 
of  the  conqueror. 

Peter  hov/ever  was  not  in  a  condition  to  push 
his  successes  any  further  at  this  time.  The  ves- 
sels which  were  bringing  him  a  fresh  supply  of 
provisions,  horses,  and  recruits,  had  been  cast 
away  near  Astracan,  and  the  season  was  far 
spent.  He  therefoie  returned  to  Moscow,  Jan.  5. 
which  he  entered  in  triumph  ;  ajid  after  bis  arri- 
val (according  to  custom)  gave  a  strict  account 
of  his  expedition  to  the  vice-czar  Romadanowski, 
thus  keeping  up  this  extraordinary  farce,  which, 
says  his  eulogium,  pronounced  in  the  academy  of 
sciences  at  Paris,  ought  to  have  been  performed 
before  all  the  monarchs  of  the  earth. 

The  empire  of  Persia  continued  to  be  divided 
between  Hussein  and  the  usurper  Mahmoad. 
The  first  of  these  thought  to  find  a  protector  in 
the  czar,  and  the  other  dreaded  him  as  an 
avenger,  who  was  come  to  snatch  the  fruits  of 
his  rebellion  out  of  his  hands.  Mahmoud  ex- 
erted all  his  endeavours  to  stir  up  the  Ottoman 
Porte  against  Peter,  and  for  this  purpose  sent  an 
embassy  to  Constantinople,  while  the  princes  of 
Daghestan,  who  were  under  the  protection  of 
the  grand  seignior,  and  had  been  stript  of  their 
territories  by  the  victorious  army  of  Peter,  cried 
aloud  for  vengeance.  The  divan  was  now  alarmed 
for  the  safety  of  Georgia,  which  the  Turks  reckon 
in  the  number  of  their  dominions. 

The  grand  seignior  was  on  the  point  of  de- 
claring war  against  the  czar,  but  was  prevented 
by  the  courts  of  Vienna  and  Paris.  The  empe- 
ror of  Germany  at  the  same  time  declared,  that 
if  Russia  should  be  attacked  by  the  Turks,  he 
must  be  obliged  to  defend  it.  The  marquis  de 
Uonac,  the  French  ambassador  at  Constantinople, 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  375 

made  a  dextrous  use  of  the  menaces  of  the  Im- 
perial court,  aud  at  the  same  time  insinuated, 
that  it  was  contrary  to  the  true  interest  of  the 
Turkish  empire,  to  suffer  a  rebel  and  an  usurper 
to  set  the  example  of  dethroning  sovereigns,  and 
tliat  the  czar  had  done  no  more  than  what  the 
grand  seignior  himself  ought  to  have  done. 

During  these  delicate  negotiations,  Mir  Mah- 
moud  was  advanced  to  the  gates  of  Derbent,  and 
had  laid  waste  all  the  neighbouring  country  in 
order  to  cut  off  all  means  of  subsistence  from  the 
Russian  army.  That  part  of  ancient  Hyrcania, 
now  called  Ghilan,  was  reduced  to  a  desert,  and 
the  inhabitants  threw  themselves  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Russians,  whom  they  looked  upon 
as  their  deliverers. 

In  this  they  followed  the  example  of  the  sophi 
himself,  i  hat  unfortunate  prince  sent  a  formal 
embassy  to  Peter  the  Great,  to  request  his  as- 
sistance ;  but  the  ambassador  was  hardly  de- 
parted, when  the  rebel,  Alir  Mahmoud,  seized 
on  Ispahan  and  the  person  of  his  master. 

Ihamaseb,  the  son  of  the  dethroned  sophi, 
who  was  taken  prisoner,  found  means  to  escape 
out  of  the  tyrant's  hands,  and  got  together  a  body 
of  troops,  with  which  he  gave  the  usurper  battle. 
He  seconded  his  father's  entreaties  to  Peter  the 
Great  for  his  protection,  and  sent  to  the  ambas- 
sador the  same  instructions  which  Shah  Hussein 
nad  given  him. 

This  ambassador,  whose  name  was  Ishmael 
Beg,  found  that  his  negotiations  had  proved  suc- 
cessful, even  before  he  arrived  in  person  ;  for, 
on  landing  at  Asiracan,  he  learnt  that  general 
Matufkin  was  going  to  set  out  with  fresh  recruits 
to  reinforce  the  army  in  Daghealan.  The  dey  of 
Baku  or  Baclin,  whiih  with  the  Persians  givea 
to  the  Ca-^pian  Sea  the  name  of  the  Sea  of  Bai  ou. 


376  HISTORY  OF 

was  not  yet  taken.  The  ambassador  therefore 
gave  the  Russian  general  a  letter  for  the  inha- 
bitants, in  which  be  exhorted  tliem  in  his  mas- 
ter's name  to  submit  to  the  emperor  of  Russia. 
The  ambassador  then  ])roceeded  to  Petersburg, 
and  general  Matufkin  departed  to  lay  siege  to 
the  city  of  Bachu.  (Aug.  17-23.)  The  Persian 
ambassador  arrived  at  the  czar's  court  the  verr 
day  that  tidings  were  brought  of  the  reduction 
of  that  city. 

Baku  is  situate  near  Shamacbe,  but  is  neitner 
so  Well  peopled,  nor  so  rich  as  the  latter.  It  is 
chic  fly  remarkable  for  the  naptba,  with  which  it 
furni.shes  all  Persia.  Never  was  treaty  so 
speedily  concluded  as  that  of  Ishmael  Beg. 
(Sept.  1723.)  Czar  Peter  promised  to  march 
with  his  forces  into  Persia,  in  order  to  revenge 
the  death  of  his  subjects,  and  to  succour  Thama- 
seb  against  the  usurper  of  his  crown,  and  the 
new  sophi  in  return  was  to  cede  to  him,  not  only 
the  towns  of  Bachu  and  Derbeut,  but  likewise 
the  provinces  of  Ghilan,  Mazanderan,  and  As- 
terabath. 

Ghilan  is,  as  we  have  already  observed,  the 
ancient  South  Hyrcania ;  Mazanderan,  which 
joins  to  it,  is  the  covmtry  of  the  Mardi,  or  Mar- 
dians ;  and  Asterabath  borders  upon  Mazan- 
deran. These  were  the  three  principal  provinces 
of  the  ancient  Median  kings  ;  so  that  Peter  be- 
held himself,  by  the  means  of  arms  and  treaties, 
in  possession  of  the  original  kingdom  of  Cyrus. 

It  may  not  be  foreign  to  our  subject  to  observe, 
that  by  the  articles  of  this  convention,  the  prices 
of  necess.Hries  to  be  furnished  to  the  army  were 
settled.  A  camel  was  to  cost  only  sixty  franks 
(about  twelve  rubles)  a  pound  of  bread  no  more 
than  five  farthings,  the  same  weight  of  beef  about 
six.     These  prices  furnish  a  convincing  proof  of 


PETER  IHE  GREAT.  377 

the  plenty  he  found  in  these  countries,  that  pos- 
sessions in  land  are  of  the  most  intrinsic  value, 
and  that  money,  which  is  only  of  nominal  worth, 
was  it  that  time  very  scarce. 

Such  was  the  deplorable  state  to  which  Persia 
was  then  reduced,  that  the  unfortunate  sophi 
Thamaseb,  a  wanderer  in  his  own  kingdom,  and 
flying  before  the  face  of  the  rebel,  Mahmoud,  who 
had  dipt  his  hands  in  the  blood  of  his  father  and 
his  brothers,  was  necessitated  to  entreat  the 
court  of  Russia  and  the  Turkish  divan  to  accept 
of  one  part  of  his  dominions  to  preserve  for  him 
the  rest. 

It  was  agreed  then,  between  czar  Peter,  sultan 
Achmet  III.  and  the  sophi  Thamaseb,  that  the 
first  of  these  should  keep  the  three  provinces 
above-named,  and  that  the  Porte  should  have 
Casbin,  Tauris,  and  Erivan,  besides  what  she  had 
already  taken  from  tlie  usurper.  Thus  was  this 
noble  kingdom  dismembered  at  once  by  the 
Russians,  the  Turks,  and  the  Persians  them- 
selves. 

And  now  the  emperor  Peter  might  be  said  to 
extend  his  dominions  from  the  furthest  part  of  the 
Baltic  Sea,  beyond  the  southern  limits  of  the 
Caspian.  Persia  still  continued  a  prey  to  viola- 
tions and  devastations,  and  its  natives,  till  then 
opulent  and  polite,  were  now  sunk  in  poverty  and 
barbarism,  while  the  Russian  people  had  arisen 
from  indigence  and  ignorance  to  a  state  of  riches 
and  learning.  One  single  man,  by  a  resolute 
and  enterprising  genius,  had  brought  his  country 
out  of  obscurity ;  and  another,  by  his  weakness 
and  indolence,  had  brought  destruction  upon  his. 

Hitherto  we  know  very  little  of  the  private  cala- 
mities which  for  so  long  a  time  spread  desolation 
over  the  face  of  the  Persian  empire.  It  is  said,  that 
shah  Hussein  was  so  pusillanimous  as  to  place 


378  HISTORY  OF 

Avith  his  own  hands  the  tiara  or  crown  of  Persia 
on  the  head  of  the  usurper  Mahnioud,  and  also 
that  this  Mahmoud  afterwards  went  mad.  Thus 
the  lives  nf  so  many  thousands  of  men  depenij  on 
the  caprice  of  a  madman  or  a  fool.  I'hey  add 
furthermore,  that  AJahmoud,  in  one  of  his  fits  of 
frenzy,  put  to  death  with  his  own  hand  all  the 
sons  and  nephews  of  the  shah  Hussein  to  the 
number  of  a  hundred  ;  and  that  he  caused  the 
gospel  of  Sr.  John  to  be  read  upon  his  head,  in 
order  to  punfv  himself,  and  to  receive  a  cure  for 
his  disorder.  These  and  such  like  Persian  fables 
have  been  circulated  by  our  monks,  and  after- 
wards printed  in  Paris. 

The  tyrant,  after  having  murdered  his  uncle, 
was  in  his  turn  put  to  death  by  his  nephew  EshreflF, 
who  was  as  cruel  and  bloody  a  tyrant  as  Mab- 
moud  himself. 

Shah  Thamaseb  still  continued  imploring  the 
assistance  of  Russia.  'I'his  I'hamaseb  or  shah 
Thomas,  was  assisted  and  afterwards  replaced 
on  the  throne  by  the  famous  Kouli  Khan,  and  was 
again  dethroned  by  the  same  Kouli  Khan. 

The  revolutions  and  wars  which  Russia  bad 
afterwards  to  encounter  against  the  Turks,  and 
in  which  she  proved  victorious,  the  evacuating 
the  three  provinces  in  Persia,  which  cost  Russia 
more  to  keep  than  they  were  worth,  are  events 
which  do  not  concern  Peter  the  Great,  as  they 
did  not  happen  till  several  years  after  his  death  ; 
it  may  suffice  to  observe,  that  he  finished  bis  mi- 
litary career  by  adding  three  provinces  to  bis 
empire  on  the  part  next  to  Persia,  after  having 
just  before  added  the  same  number  on  that  side 
next  to  Sweden. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  379 


CHAP.  XXXVI. 

Of  the  Coronation  of  the  Empress  Catherine  I.  and 
the  Death  of  Peter  the  Great. 

T)ETER,  at  his  return  from  his  Persian  expe- 
dition, found  himself  in  a  better  condition 
than  ever  to  be  the  arbiter  of  the  North.  He 
now  openly  dechired  himself  the  protector  of 
Charles  XII.  whose  professed  enemy  he  had 
been  for  eighteen  years.  He  sent  for  the  duke  of 
Holstein,  nephew  to  that  monarch,  to  his  court, 
promised  him  his  eldest  daughter  in  marriage, 
and  began  to  make  preparations  for  supporting 
him  in  his  claims  on  the  duchy  of  Holstein 
.Sleswick,  and  even  engaged  himsoif  so  to  do  by 
a  treaty  of  alliance,  (Feb.  17^4.)  wiiich  he  con- 
cluded with  the  crown  of  Sweden. 

He  continued  the  works  he  had  begun  all  over 
his  empire,  to  the  further  extremity  of  Kamt- 
shatka,  and  for  the  bettc-r  direction  of  them,  es- 
tablished an  academy  of  sciences  at  Petersburg. 
'Ihe  arts  began  now  to  flourish  on  every  side : 
manufactures  were  encouraged,  the  navy  was 
augmented,  the  army  well  provided,  and  the 
laws  properly  enforced.  He  now  enjoyed  his 
glory  in  full  rej)Ose  ;  but  was  desirous  of  sharing 
it  in  a  new  manner  with  her  who,  according  to 
his  own  declrtration,  by  remedying  the  disaster 
of  the  cam])aign  of  Pruth.  had  been  in  some 
measure  the  instrument  of  his  acquiring  that 
glory. 

Accordingly,  the  coronation  of  his  consort 
Catherine  was  performed  at  Moscow,  in  pre- 
sence of  the  ducliess  of  (^ourland,  his  eldest  bro- 
ther's daughter,  and  the  duke  of  Holstein,  hi>i  in- 
tended son- in  law.   (May  28.  17^4.)     'Iho  de- 


580  HISTORY  OF 

claration  which  he  published  on  this  occasion 
merits  attenlion  :  he  therein  cites  the  examples 
of  several  Christian  princes  who  had  placed  the 
crown  on  the  beads  of  their  consorts,  as  likewise 
those  of  the  heathen  e-mperors,  Basilides,  Justi- 
nian, Heraclius,  and  Leo,  the  philosopher.  He 
enumerates  the  services  Catherine  had  done  to  the 
state,  and  in  particular  in  the  war  against  the 
Turks, — '  Where  mv  army,'  says  he,  '  which  had 
been  reduced  to  22,000  men,  had  to  encounter  an 
army  above  200,000  strong.'  He  does  not  ear, 
in  this  declaration,  that  the  empress  was  to  suc- 
ceed to  the  crown  after  his  death  ;  but  this  cere- 
mony, which  was  altogether  new  and  unusual  in 
the  Russian  empire,  was  one  of  those  means  by 
which  he  prepared  the  minds  of  his  subjects  for 
8uch  an  event.  Another  circumstance  that  might 
perhaps  furnish  a  stronger  reason  to  believe  that 
he  destined  Catherine  to  succeed  him  on  the 
throne,  was.  that  he  himself  marched  on  foot 
before  her  the  day  of  her  coronation,  as  captain 
of  a  new  company,  which  he  had  created  under 
the  name  of  the  knights  o^^"  the  empres-i. 

When  they  arrived  at  the  cathedral,  Peter  him- 
self placed  the  crown  on  her  bead  ;  and  when  she 
would  have  fallen  down  and  embraced  his  xnees, 
he  prevented  her ;  and.  at  their  return  from  the 
church,  caused  the  sceptre  and  globe  to  be  car- 
ried before  hc^r.  The  ceremony  was  altogether 
worthy  an  emperor  •  for  on  every  public  occasion 
Peter  shewed  as  mv.ch  pomp  and  magnificence 
AS  he  did  plainness  and  simplicity  in  his  private 
manner  of  living. 

Having  thus  crowned  his  spouse,  he  at  length 
determined  to  give  his  eldest  daughter,  Anna 
Petrowna,  in  marriage  to  the  duke  of  Holstein. 
This  princess  greatlv  resen.»t>led  her  father  in  tho 
face,  was  very  majestic,  and  of  a  singular  beauty 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  r,8l 

Slip  was  betrothed  to  the  duke  of  Hoi  stein  on  the 
?4th  of  November,  1724,  but  with  very  little 
ceremony.  Peter  having  for  some  time  past 
found  his  }iealth  greatly  impaired,  and  this,  to- 
gether with  some  family  uneasiness,  tliat  perhaps 
rather  increased  his  disorder,  which  in  a  short 
time  proved  fatal,  permitted  him  to  have  but  very 
little  relish  for  feasts  or  public  diversions  in  this 
latter  part  of  his  life. 

•The  empress  Catherine  had  at  that  time  a 
young  man  for  the  chamberlain  of  her  household, 
whose  name  was  Moens  de  la  Croix,  a  native  of 
Russia,  but  of  Flemish  parents,  remarkably  hand- 
some and  genteel.  His  sister,  madame  de  Bale, 
was  bed-chamber-woman  to  tlie  empress,  and 
these  two  had  entirely  the  management  of  her 
household  Being  both  accused  of  having  taken 
presents,  they  were  sent  to  prison,  and  afterwards 
brought  to  their  trial  by  express  order  of  the  czar ; 
who,  by  an  edict  in  the  year  1714,  had  forbidden 
any  one  holding  a  place  about  court  to  receive 
any  present  or  other  gratuity,  on  pain  of  being 
declared  infamous,  and  suffering  death  ;  and  this 
prohibition  had  been  several  times  renewed. 

The  brother  and  sister  were  foimd  guilty,  and 
received  sentence,  and  all  those  who  had  either 
purchased  their  services  or  given  them  any  gra- 
tuity in  return  for  tlie  same,  were  included  therein, 
except  the  duke  of  Holstein  and  his  minister 
count  Bassewitz  :  as  it  is  probable  that  the  pre- 
sents made  by  that  prince,  to  those  who  had  a 
share  in  bringiiig  about  his  marriage  with  the 
czar's  daughter,  were  not  looked  upon  in  a  cri 
minal  light. 

Moens  was  condemned  to  be  beheaded,  and  his 
sister  (who  was  the  empress's  favourite)  to  re- 
ceive eleven  strokes  of  the  knout.     The  two  sons 
•  Memoirs  of  Basnewitz. 


SSe  HISTORY  OF 

of  this  lady,  one  of  \vhom  was  an  officer  in  the 
household,  and  the  other  a  page,  were  degraded, 
and  sent  to  serve  as  private  soldiers  in  the  army 
in  Persia. 

These  severities,  though  they  shock  our  man- 
ners, were  perhaps  necessary  in  a  country  where 
the  observance  of  the  laws  is  to  be  enforced  only 
by  the  most  terrifying  rigour.  The  empress  soli- 
cited her  favourite's  pardon  ;  but  the  czar,  of- 
fended at  her  application,  peremptorily  refused 
her,  and,  in  the  heat  of  his  passion,  seeing  a  fine 
looking-glass  in  the  apartment,  he,  with  one  blow 
of  his  fist,  broke  it  into  a  thousand  pieces  ;  and, 
turning  to  the  empress,  '  Thus,'  said  he,  '  thou 
seest  I  can,  with  one  stroke  of  my  hand,  reduce 
this  glass  to  its  original  dust.'  Catherine,  in  a 
melting  accent,  replied,  '  It  is  true,  yoa  have  de- 
stroyed one  of  the  greatest  ornaments  of  your 
palace,  but  do  you  think  that  palace  is  the  more 
charming  for  its  loss  V  This  answer  appeased  the 
emperor's  wrath  ;  but  all  the  favour  that  Catherine 
could  obtain  for  her  bed-chamber-woman  was, 
that  she  should  receive  only  five  strokes  of  the 
knout  instead  of  eleven. 

I  should  not  have  related  this  anecdote,  had  it 
not  been  attested  by  a  a  public  minister,  who  was 
•^ye-witness  of  the  whole  transaction,  and  who, 
by  having  made  presents  to  the  unfortunate 
brother  and  lister,  was  perhaps  himself  one  of  ihe 
principal  causes  of  their  disgrace  and  sufferings. 
It  was  this  affair  that  emboldened  those  who 
judge  of  every  thing  in  tlie  worst  light,  to  spread 
the  report  that  Catherine  hastened  the  death  of 
her  husband,  whose  choleric  disposition  filled  her 
with  apprehensions  that  overweighed  the  grati- 
tude she  owed  him  for  the  many  favours  he  had 
heaped  upon  her. 

These    erne     sut^picions    were   confirmed   by 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  383 

Catherine's  recalling  to  court  her  won.an  of  the 
bed-chamber  immediately  upon  the  death  of  the 
czar,  and  reinstating  her  in  her  former  influence. 
It  is  the  duty  of  an  historian  to  relate  the  public 
reports  which  have  been  circulated  in  all  times 
in  states,  on  the  decease  of  princes  who  have  been 
snatched  away  by  a  premature  death,  as  if  nature 
was  not  alone  sufficient  to  put  a  period  to  the 
existence  of  a  crowned  head  as  well  as  that  of  a 
beggar  ;  but  it  is  likewise  the  duty  of  an  historian 
to  shew  how  far  such  reports  were  rashly  or  un- 
justly formed. 

There  is  an  immense  distance  between  the  mo- 
Uientary  discontent  which  may  arise  from  the 
morose  or  harsh  behaviour  of  a  husband,  apd 
the  desperate  resolution  of  poisoning  that  hus- 
band, who  is  at  the  same  time  our  sovereign  and 
benefactor  in  the  highest  degree.  The  danger 
attending  such  a  design  would  have  been  as  great 
as  it  was  criminal.  Catherine  had  at  that  time 
a  powerful  party  against  her,  who  epoused  the 
cause  of  the  son  of  the  deceased  czarowitz. 
Nevertheless,  neither  that  faction,  nor  any  one 
person  about  tiie  court,  once  suspected  the  czar- 
ina ;  and  the  vague  rumours  which  were  spread 
on  this  head  were  founded  only  on  the  mis- 
taken notions  of  foreigners,  who  were  very  im- 
])erfectly  acquainted  with  the  affair,  and  who 
chose  to  indulge  the  wretched  pleasure  of  accus- 
ing of  lieinous  crimes  those  whom  they  thought 
interested  to  commit  them.  B>it  it  was  even 
very  doubtful  whether  this  was  at  ail  the  case 
with  Catherine.  It  was  far  from  being  certain  that 
she  was  to  succeed  her  husband.  She  had  been 
crowned  indeed,  but  only  in  the  character  of  wife 
to  the  reigning  sovereign,  and  not  as  one  who  waa 
to  enjoy  the  sovereign  authority  after  his  death. 
Peter   in  his  declaration,  had  only  ordered  this 


384  HISTORY  OF 

coronation  as  a  matter  of  ceremony,  and  not  aa 
conferring  a  righ*  of  governing.  He  therein  only 
cited  tlie  examples  of  emperors,  who  had  caused 
their  consorts  to  be  crowned,  but  not  of  those  who 
had  conferred  on  them  the  royal  authority.  In 
fine,  at  the  very  time  of  Peter's  illness,  several 
persons  believed  that  the  princess  Anna  Petrowna 
would  succeed  him  jointly  with  her  husband  the 
duke  of  Holstein,  or  that  the  czar  would  nomi- 
nate his  grandson  for  his  succei^sor ;  therefor*-, 
so  far  from  Catherine's  being  interested  in  the 
death  of  the  emperor,  she  rather  seemed  con- 
cerned in  the  preservation  of  his  life. 

It  is  undeniable,  that  Peter  had,  for  a  consi- 
d«rable  time,  bet^n  troubled  with  an  abscess  in  the 
bladder,  and  a  stoppage  of  urine.  The  mineral 
waters  of  OInitz,  and  some  others,  which  he  had 
been  advised  to  use,  had  proved  of  very  little  ser- 
vice to  him,  and  he  had  found  himself  growing 
sensibly  weaker,  ever  since  the  beginning  of  the 
year  l7!i;4.  His  labours,  from  which  h  would 
not  allow  himself  any  respite,  increased  his  dis- 
order, and  has<ened  his  end:  (Jan.  1723.)  his 
malady  became  now  more  and  more  desperate  , 
he  felt  burning  pains,  which  threw  him  into  an 
almost  constant  delirium,*  whenever  he  had  a 
moment's  interval,  he  endeavoured  to  write,  but 
he  could  only  scrawl  a  few  lines  that  were  wholly 
unintelligible ;  and  it  was  with  the  greatest  dif- 
ficulty that  the  following  words,  in  the  Russian 
language,  could  be  distinguished: — *  Let  every 
thing  be  given  to ' 

He  then  called  for  the  princess  Anna  Petrowna. 
in  order  to  dictate  to  her,  but  by  that  time  she 
could  come  to  his  bed-side,  he  had  lost  his  speech, 
and  fell  into  a  fit,  which  lasted  sixteen  Lours. 
The  empress  Catherine  did  not  quit  his  bed-side 
*   MS.  memoirs  of  count  de  Ba&sewuz. 


PETER  IHE  GREAT.  385 

for  three  nights  together.  At  length,  he  breathed 
his  last  in  her  arms,  on  the  '28th  of  Jan.  1725. 
about  four  o'clock  in  tlie  morning. 

His  body  was  conveyed  into  the  great  hall  of 
the  palace,  accompanied  by  all  the  imperial  fa- 
mily, the  senate,  all  the  principal  personages  of 
state,  and  an  innumerable  concourse  of  people. 
It  was  there  exposed  on  a  bed  of  state,  and  every 
one  was  permifted  to  approach  and  kiss  his  hand, 
till  the  day  of  his  interment,  which  was  on  the 
10-21st  of  March,  17Si5.* 

*  Catherine  paid  the  last  duties  to  her  husband's  ashea> 
with  a  pomp  becomiag  the  greatest  monarch  that  Russia, 
or  perhaps  any  other  country,  had  ever  known  ;  and 
thou<;h  there  is  no  court  of  Europe  where  splendour  and 
magnificence  is  carried  to  a  greater  height  on  these  occa- 
sions than  in  that  of  Russia,  yet  it  may  with  great  truth 
be  said,  that  she  even  surpassed  herself  in  the  funeral 
hoiiotirs  paid  to  her  great  Peter.  She  parcliased  the 
most  precious  kinds  of  marble,  and  einpltj^'c-d  some  of 
the  ablest  sculptors  of  Italy  to  erect  a  mausoleum  to  this 
hero,  which  Oiighl,  if  possible,  transmit  the  remembrance 
of  his  ?reat  actions  to  the  most  distant  ages.  Tsot  satis- 
fied with  this,  she  caused  nmeJal  to  be  struck,  worthy  of 
the  ancients.  On  one  side  was  represented  the  bust  of 
the  late  crupiror,  with  these  words — '  Peter  the  Great, 
Emjertr  and  Sovereign  of  all  Russia,  horn  Muy  SO, 
1672.  On  the  reverse  was '.he  empress  sitting,  with  the 
crown  on  her  head,  the  globe  and  sceptre  by  her  side  on 
a  table,  and  before  her  were  a  sphere,  sea  charts,  plans, 
mathematical  instruments,  arras,  anJ  a  caduceus.  At 
distances,  in  ihn  e  different  places,  were  represented  an 
edifice  on  the  sea  coast,  with  a  platform  before  it,  a  ship 
and  galley  &t  sen,  and  the  late  emperor  in  liie  clouds,  sup- 
ported by  fcttruity,  looking  on  the  empress,  ond  shewiug 
her  with  his  right  hand  all  the  treasures  he  had  left 
her,  with  these  word.*,  '  Behold  wljat  I  iiaveleft  you.'  In 
the  exergue,  '  Deceased  28  Junuarj',  17?5.'  Several  ot 
these  medals  she  ordered  to  be  struck  in  gold,  to  tb4 
weight  of  fifty  ducats,  and  distributed  amoi  g  the  foreign 

R 


386  HISTORY  OF 

It  has  been  thought,  and  it  has  been  assert- 
ed in  pnnt,  that  be  had  appointed  his  wife  C» 

miniaterfi,  and  all  the  grandees  of  the  empire,  aa  a  testi. 
moDj  of  her  respect  aud  gratitude  to  the  memory  of  hei 
late  husband,  to  whose  generosity  she  took  a  pleasure  ii 
owning  herself  indebted  for  her  present  elevated  station, 
Mottley  gives  us  the  following,  as  the  czar's  epitaph  : 

Here  lieth, 

All  that  could  die  of  a  mau  immortal, 

PETER  ALEXIOWITZ: 

It  is  almost  superfluous  to  add, 

Great  Emperor  of  Russia  .' 

A  title, 

Which,  instead  of  adding  to  his  glory, 

Became  glorious  by  his  wearing  it. 

Let  antiquity  be  dumb, 

Not  boast  her  Alexander,  cr  her  Caesar. 

How  easy  was  victory 

To  leaders  who  were  followed  by  heroes ! 

And  whose  soldiers  felt  a  noble  disdain 

At  being  thought  less  vigilant  than  their  generals! 

But  he, 

Who  in  this  place  first  knew  rest. 

Found  subjects  base  and  inactive, 

Uuwarlike,  unlearned,  uniractable; 

Neither  covetous  of  fame,  nor  fearless  of  danger; 

Creatures  with  the  names  of  men, 

But  with  qualities  rather  brutal  than  rational ! 

Yet,  even  these 

He  polished  from  their  native  ruggedness; 

And,  breaking  oat  like  a  new  sun. 

To  illuminate  the  minds  of  a  people. 

Dispelled  their  night  of  hereditary  darknes*  ; 

And,  by  force  of  his  invincible  influence, 

Taught  them  to  conquer 

Even  the  conquerors  of  Germany. 

Otb«r  princes  have  commanded  victorious  armies; 

This  commander  created  them. 

Blush,  O  Art!   at  a  hero  who  owed  thee  nothinf 

EjoI*.  0  Nature  !  for  thine  was  this  prodigj'. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  387 

therine  to  succeed  him  in  the  empire,  by  his  last 
will,  but  the  truth  is,  that  he  never  made  any 
will,  or  at  least  none  that  ever  appeared  ;  a  most 
astonishing  negligence  in  so  great  a  legislator, 
and  a  proof  that  he  did  not  think  his  disorder 
mortal. 

No  one  knew,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  who 
was  to  succeed  him  :  he  left  behind  him  his 
grandson  Peter,  son  of  the  unfortunate  Alexis, 
and  his  eldest  daughter  Anna,  married  to  the 
duke  of  [Jolstein.  There  was  a  considerable  fac- 
tion in  favour  of  young  I'eter  ;  but  prince  Men- 
zikoff,  who  had  never  had  any  other  interests 
than  those  of  the  empress  Catherine,  took  care 
to  be  beforehand  with  all  parlies,  and  their  de- 
signs ;  and  accordingly,  when  the  czar  was  upon 
the  point  of  giving  up  the  ghost,  he  caused  the 
empress  to  remove  into  another  apartment  of 
the  palace,  where  all  their  friends  were  assem- 
bled ready  :  he  had  the  royal  treasures  conveyed 
into  the  citadel,  and  secured  the  guards  in  his 
interest,  as  likewise  the  archbishop  of  Novogo- 
rod ;  and  then  they  held  a  private  council,  in 
presence  of  the  empress  Catherine,  and  one 
I^Iacarof,  a  secretary,  in  whom  they  could  con- 
fide, at  which  the  duke  of  Holstein's  minister  as- 
sisted. 

At  the  breaking  up  of  this  council,  the  empress 
returned  to  the  czar's  bed-side,  who  soon  after 
yielded  up  the  ghost  in  her  arms.  As  soon  as 
his  death  was  made  known,  the  principal  senators 
and  general  officers  repaired  to  the  palace,  where 
the  empress  made  a  speech  to  them,  which 
prince  Menzikoft'  ansv/ered  in  the  name  of  all 
present.  The  empress  being  withdrawn,  they 
proceeded  to  consider  the  proper  forms  to  be  ob- 
served on  tl»e  occasion,  when  Theophaues,  arch- 
bishop of  Pleskow,  told  the  assembly,  that,  ua 


388  HISTORY  OF 

the  eve  of  the  corouation  of  the  empress  Catherine, 
the  deceased  czar  had  declared  to  him,  that  his 
sole  reason  for  placing  the  crown  on  her  head, 
was,  that  she  might  wear  it  after  his  death  ; 
upon  which  the  assembly  unanimously  signed 
the  proclamation,  and  Catherine  succeeded  her 
husband  on  the  throne  the  verj-  day  of  his  death. 
Peter  the  Great  was  regretted  by  all  those 
whom  he  had  formed,  and  the  descendants  of 
those  who  had  been  sticklers  for  the  ancient  cus- 
to:iiS  soon  began  to  look  on  him  as  their  father  ; 
foreign  nations,  who  have  beheld  the  duration  of 
his  establishments,  have  always  expressed  the 
highest  admiration  for  his  memory,  acknowledg- 
ing that  he  was  actuated  by  a  more  than  common 
prudence  and  wisdom,  and  not  by  a  vain  desire 
of  doing  extraordinary  things.  All  Europe  knows 
that  though  he  was  fond  of  fame,  he  coveted  it 
only  for  noble  principles  ;  that  though  he  had 
faults,  they  never  obscured  his  noble  qualities, 
and  that,  though,  as  a  man,  he  was  liable  to 
errors,  as  a  monarch  he  was  always  great :  he 
every  way  forced  nature,  in  his  subjects,  in  him- 
self, by  sea  and  land  :  but  he  forced  her  only  to 
render  her  more  pleasin-g  and  noble.  The  arts, 
which  he  transplanted  with  his  own  hands,  into 
r^3untries,  till  then  in  a  manner  savage,  have 
flourished,  and  produced  fruits  which  are  lasting 
testimonies  of  his  genius,  and  will  render  his 
memory  immortal,  since  they  now  appear  as  na- 
tives of  those  places  to  which  he  introduced 
them.  The  civil,  political,  and  military  go- 
vernment, trade,  manufactures,  the  arts  and  the 
sciences,  have  all  been  carried  on,  according  to 
his  plan,  and  by  an  event  not  to  be  paralleled 
m  history  :  we  have  seen  four  women  succes- 
sively ascend  the  throne  after  him,  who  have 
raAintained,  in  full  vigouti  all  th?  great  designs 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  389 

be  accomplished,  and  have  completed  those 
which  he  had  begun. 

The  court  has  undergone  some  revolutions 
since  his  death,  but  the  empire  has  not  suffered 
one.  Its  splendour  was  increased  by  Catherine  1. 
It  triumphed  over  the  Turks  and  the  Swede* 
under  Anna  Petrowna  ;  and  under  Elizal)eth  it 
conquered  Prussia,  and  a  part  of  Pomerania  ;  and 
lastly,  it  has  tainted  the  swi-f^ts  of  peace,  and  has 
seen  the  arts  flourish  in  I'uiness  and  security  in 
the  reign  of  Catheriue  the  Second.* 

Let  the  historians  of  that  nation  enter  into  the 
minutest  circumstances  of  the  new  creation,  the 
wars  and  undertakings  of  l*eter  the  Great  :  let 
them  rouse  the  emulation  of  their  countrymen, 
by  celebrating  those  heroes  who  assisted  this 

*  The  digtingui^hed  regard  which  this  princess  shews 
for  the  arts  and  sciences,  aud  her  endeavours  to  attract 
the  great  geniuses  of  all  nations  to  reside  in  her  dominions, 
by  every  possible  encouragement,  affords  the  strongest 
presumptions,  that  in  hiir  reign  we  shall  see  a  second 
age  of  Louis  XIV.  and  of  this  we  have  had  a  recent 
proof,  in  the  obliging  letter  which  this  august  princess 
wrote  with  her  own  hand  to  M.  d'AIembert,  and  the 
choice  she  has  since  made  of  M.  Duplex,  a  member  of 
the  roj'al  academy  of  sciences  at  Paris,  when  the  before- 
mentioned  gentleman  thought  fit  to  decline  the  gracious 
offers  she  made  him.  In  which  choice  slie  has  shewn 
that  it  is  not  birth  nor  rank,  but  true  merit  and  virtue, 
which  she  considers  au  the  essential  qualidcations  in  a 
person  to  whom  she  would  conCde  the  most  sacred  of 
all  trusts,  that  of  the  education  of  ihe  grand  duke,  her 
son.  What  then  may  not  be  expected  from  the  admi- 
nistration of  a  sovereign  so  superior  to  vulgar  prejudice' 
And  especially'  when  assisted  by  a  Woronzoff  and  a  Oa- 
litiin.  both  the  proft-ssed  friends  and  patrons  of  literatar« 
and  the  fine  arts,  which  they  thenselves  have  not  dis- 
dained to  cultivate,  when  business  and  the  weighty  af- 
fair* of  state  have  allowed  them  a  few  moments  leisurat 


?90  HISTORY  OF 

monarch  in  ais  labours,  in  the  field,  and  in  the 
cabinet.  It  is  sufficient  for  a  stranger,  a  disin- 
terested admirer  of  merit,  to  have  endeavoured 
to  set  to  view  that  great  man,  who  learned  of 
Charles  XII.  to  conquer  him,  who  twice  quitted 
his  dominions,  in  order  to  govern  them  the  better, 
who  worked  with  his  own  hands,  in  almost  all 
the  useful  and  necessary  arts,  to  set  an  examp.e 
of  instruction  to  his  people,  and  who  was  the 
founder  and  the  father  of  his  empire.* 

•  The  following  anecdote,  communicated  by  a  noble- 
man of  the  strictest  probity,  who  was  himself  an  eye-wit- 
ness of  the  fact,  will  give  us  a  clear  in8i<,'ht  into  the  cha- 
racter  and  disposition  of  Peter  I.  In  one  of  the  manj 
plots  which  was  formed  against  the  life  and  government 
of  this  monarch,  there  was  among  the  number  of  those 
seized  a  soldier,  belonging  to  his  own  regiment  of 
guards.  Peter  being  told  by  his  officers  that  this  man 
had  always  behaved  extremely  well,  had  a  curiosity  to 
see  him,  and  learn  from  his  own  mouth  what  might  have 
been  his  inducement  to  be  concerned  in  a  plot  against  him; 
and  to  this  purpose  he  dressed  himself  in  a  plain  garb, 
ftnd  so  as  not  to  be  known  by  the  man  again,  and  went 
to  the  prison  where  he  was  confined,  when,  after  soma 
conversation,  '1  should  he  glad  to  know,  friend,' said  Peter, 
'  what  were  your  reasons  for  being  concerned  in  an  at- 
tempt against  the  emperor  your  master,  as  I  am  certain 
that  he  never  did  you  any  injury,  but  on  the  contrary, 
has  a  regard  for  you,  as  being  a  brave  soldier,  and  one 
who  have  always  done  your  duty  in  the  field  ;  and  there- 
fore, if  you  were  to  shew  the  least  remorse  for  what  you 
have  done.  I  am  persuaded  that  the  emperor  would  for- 
give you  :  but  before  I  interest  mj'self  in  your  behalf, 
you  must  tell  me  what  motives  you  had  to  join  the  muti- 
neers ;  and  repeat  to  you  again,  that  the  emperor  is  natu- 
rally so  good  and  compassionate,  that  I  am  certain  he 
will  give  you  your  pardon." 

'  1  know  little  or  nothing  of  the  emperor,"  replied  th« 
soldier,  '  for  I  never  saw  him  but  at  a  distance  ;  but  he 
<s6used  my  father's  head  to  be  cnt  off  some  time  ago,  for 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  391 

Princes,  who  reign  over  states  long  eince  civi- 
lized, may  sajto  themselves,  '  If  a  man,  assisted 
only  by  Lis  own  genius,  has  been  capable  of  doing 
such  great  things  in  the  frozen  climes  of  ancient 
Scythia,  what  may  not  be  expected  from  us,  in 
kingdoms  where  the  arcuraulated  labours  of  many 
ages  have  rendered  the  way  so  easy  V 

being  concerned  in  h  former  rebellion,  and  it  is  the  duty 
of  a  Bon  to  revenge  the  death  of  his  father,  by  that  of  the 
p«r8on  who  took  away  his  life.  If  then  the  emperor  is 
really  so  good  and  merciful  as  you  have  represented  him. 
counsel  him,  for  his  own  safety  not  to  pardon  me;  for 
were  he  to  restore  me  my  liberty,  the  first  use  I  shoald 
make  of  it  would  be,  to  engage  in  some  new  attempt 
against  his  life,  nor  should  I  ever  rest  till  I  had  accom- 
plished m^'  design  ;  therefore  the  securest  method  he 
can  take,  will  be  to  onier  my  head  to  be  struck  oflf  imme- 
diately, without  which  his  own  life  is  not  in  safety.'  The 
czar  in  vain  used  all  the  arguments  he  could  think  of,  to 
■et  befonj  this  desperado  the  foUj'  and  injustice  of  snck 
sentiments ;  he  still  persisted  in  what  he  had  declared, 
and  Peter  departed,  greatly  chagrined  at  the  bad  succeM 
of  his  visit,  and  gave  orders  for  the  execution  of  tbuaDAO 
Mid  the  reit  of  hU  accomplioeft. 


392 


ORIGINAL  PIECES 

■  ILATITE  TO  THIS  HISTORY,  AGREB4BLE  TO  THB 
TRANSLATIONS  MALE  AT  THEIR  FIRST  PUBLICA- 
TION,   BY  ORDER   OF  CZAK    PETER   1. 


SENTENCE 


Pronounced  against  the  Czarowitz  ALSXit, 
June  (14th,  1718. 
Br  Tirtue  of  an  express  ordinance  issued  bj-  his  czariah 
majesty,  and  signed  by  his  own  hand,  on  the  I3th  of  Jane, 
for  the  judgment  of  the  czarowitz  Alexis  Petrowita, 
in  relation  to  his  crinaes  and  transgressions  against  hii 
father  and  sovereign  ;  the  undernamed  ministers  and  se. 
nators,  estates  military  and  civil,  after  having  assembled 
several  times  in  the  regency  chamber  of  the  senate  of 
Petersburg,  and  having  heard  read  the  original  writings 
and  testimonies  given  against  the  czarowitz,  as  also  bis 
majes<y'8  admonitory  letters  to  that  pr'nce,  and  his  an- 
swers to  them  in  his  own  writing,  and  other  acts  relating 
to  the  process,  and  likewise  the  criminal  informations,  de- 
clarations and  confessions  of  the  czarowitz,  partly  written 
with  his  own  hand,  and  partly  delivered  byword  of  mouth 
to  his  father  and  sovereign,  before  the  several  persons 
anderuamed,  constituted  by  his  czarish  majesty's  autho- 
rity to  the  effect  of  the  present  jurigment,  do  acknowledge 
and  declare,  that  though  according  to  the  laws  of  the 
Russian  empire,  it  belongs  not  to  them,  the  natural  sub- 
jects of  his  czarish  majesty's  sovereign  dominions,  to  take 
cognizance  of  an  affair  of  thi?  nature,  which  for  its  im- 
portance depends  solely  on  the  absolute  will  of  the  sove- 
reign, whose  power,  unlimited  by  any  law,  is  derived 
from  God  alone  ;  yet,  ia  submission  to  his  ordinance  who 
hath  given  them  this  liberty,  and  after  mature  reflection, 
observing  the  dictates  of  th^ir  consciences  without  fear, 
flatter^',  or  respect  of  persons,  having  nothing  before  their 
•yes  but  the  divine  laws  applicable  to  the  present  case,  the 
sanons  and  rules  of  councils,  the  authority  of  the  holy 
and  doctors  of  the  church,  and  taking  also  for  tbaif 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  393 

nile  tke  instruction  of  tfie  archbishops  and  c  iergj'  assembled 
at  Petersburg  on  this  occasion,  and  conforming  themselve* 
to  the  laws  and  constitutions  of  this  empire,  which  art 
agreeable  to  those  of  other  nations,  especially  the  Greeks 
and  the  Romans,  and  other  Christian  princes  ;  they  una- 
nimously atrreed  and  pronounced  the  c/.arowitz  Alexis 
Petrowitz  to  be  worthy  of  death,  for  the  aforesaid  crimes 
and  capital  transgressions  against  his  sovereign  and  father, 
he  being  his  czarish  majesty's  son  aod  subject ;  and  that, 
notwithstanding  the  promise  given  by  his  czarish  majesty 
to  the  czarowitz,  in  a  letter  sent  by  M.  Tolstoj'  and  cap- 
tain Romanzofif,  dated  from  Spaw,  the  lOth  of  July,  171? , 
to  pardon  his  elopement  if  he  voluntarily  returned,  asth^ 
czarowitz  himself  acknowledges  with  gratitude,  ia  hi6 
answer  to  that  letter,  dated  from  Naples,  the  4th  of  Oc- 
tober, 1717,  wherein  he  returns  thanks  to  his  majesty  for 
the  pardon  he  had  promised  him  solely  on  condition  of  his 
speedy  and  voluntar-  return  ;  3'et  he  bath  forfeited  and 
rendered  himself  unworthy  of  that  pardon,  by  renewing 
and  continuing  his  former  transgressions,  as  is  fully  set 
forth  in  his  majesty's  manifesto  of  the  3d.of  February,  in 
this  present  year,  and  for  not  returning  voluntarily  and 
of  his  own  accord. 

And  although  his  majesty  did,  upon  the  arrival  of  the 
czarowitz  at  Moscow,  and  his  humbly  confessing  in  writ- 
ing his  crimes,  and  asking  pardon  for  tljcm.take  pity  on 
him,  as  is  natural  for  every  father  to  act  towards  a  son, 
and  at  the  audience,  held  in  the  great  hall  of  the  castle, 
dated  the  said  3d  day  of  February,  did  promise  him  full 
pardon  for  all  his  crimes  and  transgressions,  it  was  only 
on  condition  that  he  would  declare,  without  reserve  or  re- 
striction, all  his  designs,  and  who  were  his  counsellors 
and  abettors  therein,  but  that  if  he  concealed  any  one  per- 
son or  thing,  that  in  such  case  the  promised  pardon  should 
be  null  and  void,  which  conditions  the  czarowitz  did  at  that 
time  accept  and  receive,  with  all  outward  tokens  of  grati- 
tude and  obedience,  solemnly  swearing  on  the  holy  cross 
and  the  blessed  evangelists,  and  in  the  presence  of  all  those 
assembled  at  that  time  and  for  that  purpose  in  the  cathedral 
church,  thai  he  wo"jld  faithfuUj',  and  without  reserve,  de- 
clare the  whole  truth 

His  majesty  d-  i  also  the  next  day  conlirm  to  t'je  czar- 
K  C 


894  :|ISIORY  OF 

owitzin  writing  the  said  promise,  in  the  interrogatoriet 
which  hereafter  follow,  and  which  his  majesty  caused  to  be 
delivered  to  him,  having  first  written  at  the  begining  what 
follows  : 

'  As  you  did  yesterday  receive  your  pardon,  oTV>coDdt 
tion  that  j-ou  would  confess  all  the  circumstances  of  youi 
flight,  and  whatever  relates  tliereto  ;  but  if  j'ou  concealed 
any  part  thereof,  j-ou  should  answer  for  it  with  your  life; 
and,  as  j'ou  have  already  made  some  confessions, it  is  ex- 
pected of  you,  for  our  more  full  satisfaction,  and  your  own 
safety,  to  commit  the  same  to  writing,  in  such  order  as 
shall  in  the  course  of  your  examination  be  pointed  out  to 
you.' 

And  at  the  end,  under  the  seventh  question,  there  was 
again  written,  with  his  czarish  majesty's  own  hand: 

'  Declare  to  us,  and  discover  whatever  hath  an^'  relation 
to  this  affair,  though  it  be  cot  here  expressed,  and  clear 
yourself  as  if  it  were  at  confession  ;  for  if  you  conceal  any 
thing  that  shall  by  any  other  means  be  afterwards  disco- 
vered, do  not  impute  the  consequence  to  us,  since  3'ou  have 
been  already'  told,  that  in  such  case  the  pardon  granted 
you  should  be  null  and  void.' 

Notwithstauding  all  which,  the  answers  and  confessions 
of  the  czarowitz  were  delivered  without  any  sincerity  ;  he 
not  only  concealing  many  of  his  accomplices,  but  also  the 
capital  circumstances  relating  to  his  own  transgressions, 
particularly  his  rebellious  design  in  usurping  the  throne 
even  in  the  life-time  of  his  father,  flatteriig  himself  that 
the  populace  would  declare  in  his  favour ;  all  which  hath 
since  been  fully  discovered  in  the  criminal  process,  after 
he  had  refused  to  make  a  discovery  himself,  as  hath  ap- 
peared by  the  above  presents. 

Thus  it  hath  appearedby  the  whole  conduct  of  the  czar- 
owitz, as  well  as  by  the  confessions  which  he  both  deli- 
vered in  writing,  and  by  word  of  mouth,  particularly',  that 
be  was  not  disposed  to  wait  for  the  succession  in  the  man- 
ner  in  which  his  father  had  left  it  to  him  after  his  death, 
according  to  equity,  and  the  order  of  nature  which  God 
has  established;  but  intended  to  take  the  crown  off  the 
head  of  his  father,  while  living,  and  set  it  upon  his  own, 
not  only  by  a  civil  insurrection,  but  by  the  assistance  of  ■ 
foreign  force,  which  he  had  actually  requested. 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  396 

fheczarowitz  has  hereby  rendered  himself  unwortlqr 
vif  the  clemencj-  and  pardon,  promised  him  by  the  empe- 
ror hisfather  ;  and  siuce  tlielaws  divine  and  ecclesiastical, 
civil  and  milltarj-,  condemn  to  death,  without  mercy,  not 
only  i«Lose  whose  attempts  against  their  father  and  sove 
reign  have  been  proved  bj'  testimonies  and  writings  ;  but 
even  such  as  liave  been  convicted  of  an  intention  to  rebel, 
and  of  having  formed  a  base  design  to  kill  their  sovereign . 
and  usurp  the  throne;  what  shall  we  think  of  a  rebellious 
design,  almost  unparalleled  in  history,  joined  to  that  of  a 
horrid  parricide,  against  him  who  was  his  father  in  a  dou» 
ble  capacity  ;  a  father  of  great  lenity  and  indulgence,  who 
brought  up  the  czarowitz  from  the  cradle  with  more  than 
paternal  care  and  tenderness  ;  who  earnestly  endeavoured 
to  form  him  for  government,  and  with  incredible  pains, 
and  indefatigable  application,  to  instruct  him  in  the  mi- 
litary art,  and  qualify  him  to  succeed  to  so  great  an  empire? 
with  how  much  stronger  reason  does  such  a  design  dfl 
serve  to  be  punished  with  death  ? 

It  is  therefore  with  hearts  full  of  aflBiction,  and  eyes 
streaming  with  tears,  that  we,  as  subjects  and  servants,  pro- 
nounce this  sentence;  considering  that  it  belongs  not  to 
U8  to  give  judgment  in  a  case  of  so  great  importance,  and 
especially  to  pronounce  against  the  son  of  our  most  pre- 
cious sovereign  lord  the  czar.  Is'evertheless,  it  being  hit 
pleasure  that  we  should  act  in  this  capacity,  we,  by  these 
presents,  declare  our  real  opinion,  and  pronounce  this 
•entence  of  condemnation  with  a  pure  and  Christian  con- 
science, as  we  hope  to  be  able  to  answer  for  it  at  the  just, 
awful,  and  impartial  tribunal  of  Almighty  God. 

We  submit, however,  this  sentence,  which  we  nowpass, 
to  the  sovereign  power,  the  will,  and  merciful  revisal  of 
his  czarish  majesty,  our  most  gracious  sovereign. 


THE  PEACE  OF  NYSTADT. 

In  the  name  of  the  Most  Holy  and  andivided 
Trinity. 

Bi  it  known  by  these  presents,  that  whereas  a  bloody, 
lon^.and  expensive  war  has  arisen  and  subsisted  for  se. 
reral  years  past,  between  hia  late  majesty  king  Charles 


396  HISTORY  OF 

XII,  of  glorious  memory,  king  of  Sweden,  of  the  Goths, 
and  Vandals,  &c.  &c.  his  successors  to  the  throne  of  Swe- 
den, the  lady  Ulrica  queen  of  Sweden,  of  the  Goths  and 
Vandals,  &c.  and  the  kingdom  of  Sweden,  on  the  one  part; 
and  between  his  czarish  majesty  Peter  the  First,  emperor 
of  all  the  Ilussias,  &c.  and  the  empire  of  Russia,  on  the 
other  part;  the  two  powers  have  thought  proper  to  exert 
their  endeavours  to  find  out  means  to  put  a  period  to  those 
troubles, and  prevent  the  further  etfusion  of  so  much  in- 
nocent blood  ;  and  it  has  pleased  the  Almighty  to  dispose 
the  hearts  of  both,  powers,  to  appoint  a  meeting  of  their 
ministers  plenipctentiarj-.  to  treat  of,  aod  conclude  a  firm, 
sincere  and  lasting  peace,  and  perpetual  friendship  be- 
tween t'he  two  powers,  their  dominions,  provinces, coun- 
tries, vassals,  subjects,  and  inhabitants  ;  namely',  Mr.  John 
Liliensted,  one  of  the  most  honourable  privj'-council  to 
his  majesty  the  king  of  Sweden,  his  kingdom  and  chancery, 
and  baron  Otto  Reinhold  Stroemfeld,intendant  of  the  cop. 
per  mines  and  iiefs  of  Dalders,  on  the  part  of  his  said  ma- 
jesty ;  and  on  the  part  of  his  czarish  majesty,  count  Jacob 
Daniel  Bruce,  his  general  adjutant,  president  of  the  colleges 
of  mines  and  manufactories,  and  knight  of  the  order  of 
St,  Andrew  and  the  White  Zagle,  and  Mr.  Henrj-  John 
Frederic  Osterman,one  of  his  said  majesty's  privy-coun- 
sellors in  his  chancery  :  which  plenipotentiary  ministers, 
being  assembled  at  Nystadt,  and  having  communicated 
to  each  other  their  respective  commissions,  and  imploring 
the  divine  assistance,  did  enter  upon  this  important  and 
salutary  enterprise,  and  have,  by  the  grace  and  blessing 
of  God,  concluded  the  following  peace  between  the  crown 
of  Sweden  and  his  czarish  majesty. 

Art.  1.  There  shall  be  now  and  henceforward  a  perpetual 
and  inviolable  peace,  sincere  union,  and  indissoluble  friend- 
ship, between  his  majesty  Frederic  the  First,  king  of  Swe- 
den, of  the  Goths  and  Vandals,  his  successors  to  the  crowi 
and  kingdom  of  Sweden,  his  dominions,  provinces,  coun- 
tries, villages,  vassals,  subjects,  and  inhabitants^  as  well 
within  the  Roman  empire  as  out  of  said  empire,  on  the 
one  side ;  and  his  czarish  majesty  Peter  the  First,  em- 
peror of  all  the  Russias,&c,  his  successors  to  the  throne 
of  Russia,  and  all  his  countries,  villages,  vassals,  subjects, 
p.nrt  inhabitants,  oa  the  other  side;  in  surh  wise, that Inf 


PETEIl  THE  GREAT.  397 

the  future,  neither  of  the  two  reconciled  powers  shall  com- 
mit, or  suffer  to  be  coMmitted,  any  hostility,  either  pri- 
rately  or  publicly,  direcv^y  or  indirectlj',  nor  shall  in 
any  wise  assist  the  enemies  of  each  other,  on  any  pretext 
whatever,  not  contract  any  a.Uiance  with  them,  that  may 
be  contrary  to  this  peace,  but  nhall  always  maintain  and 
preserve  a  sincere  friendship  towards  each  other,  and  as 
much  as  in  them  lies,  support  their  mutual  honour,  advan- 
tage and  safety  ;  as  likewise  prevent,  to  the  utmost  of  their 
power,  any  injury  or  vexation  with  which  either  of  the 
reconciled  parties  may  be  threatened  bj' any  other  power. 

Art.  2.  It  is  further  mutually  aj^reed  upon  betwixt  the 
two  parties,  that  a  general  pardon  and  act  of  oblivion  for 
all  hostilities  committed  during  tlie  war,  either  by  arms 
or  otherwise,  shall  be  strictly  observed,  so  far  as  that  nei- 
ther partj'  shall  ever  henceforth  either  call  to  mind,  or 
take  vengeance  for  the  same,  particularly  in  regard  to 
persons  of  state,  and  subjects  whc  have  entered  into  the 
service  of  either  of  the  two  parties  during  the  war,  and 
have  thereb3-  become  enemies  to  the  other,  except  onljr 
the  Russian  Cossacks,  who  enlisted  in  the  service  of  the 
king  of  Sweden,  and  whom  his  crarish  majesty  will  not 
consent  to  have  included  in  the  said  general  pardon,  not- 
withstanding the  intercession  made  for  them  by  the  king 
of  Sweden. 

Art.  .3.  All  hostilities,  both  b^*  sea  and  land, shall  ceasa 
both  here  and  in  the  grand  duchy  of  Finland  in  fifteen 
days,  or  sooner,  if  possible,  after  the  regular  exchange  of 
the  ratifications  ;  and  to  this  intent  the  conclusion  of  the 
peace  shall  be  published  without  delay.  And  in  case  that, 
after  the  expiration  of  the  said  term,  any  hostilities  should 
be  committed  by  either  partj-,  either  by  sea  or  land,  in 
any  manner  whatsoever,  through  ignorance  of  the  cou- 
elusioa  of  the  peace,  such  offence  shall  by  no  means  pre- 
judice the  conclusion  of  said  peace  ;  on  the  contrary,  each 
■ball  make  a  reciprocal  exchange  of  bo'h  men  and  effects 
that  may  be  taken  after  the  said  term. 

Art.  4.  !lis  majesty  the  king  of  Sweden  does,  by  the 
present  treaty,  as  well  for  hims<<lf  as  for  his  successors 
to  the  throne  and  kingdom  of  Sweden,  cede  to  his  caarish 
majesty,  atid  his  succesgois  to  tiio  Kussiun  empire,  in  full, 
irreTocabieaud  everlasting  possession, the  provinces  whic/i 


898  rii STORY  Of 

have  been  taken  by  his  czarish  majesty's  arms  from  th<i 
crown  of  Sweden  during  this  war,  viz.  Livonia,  Esthonia, 
Ingria,  and  a  part  of  Carelia,  as  likewise  the  district  of 
the  fiefs  of  Wybourg  specified  hereafter  in  the  article  for 
regulating  the  limits ;  the  towns  and  fortresses  of  Riga, 
Dunamund,  Pernau.  Revel,  Dorpt,  Nerva,  Wybourg, 
Kexholm,  and  the  other  towns,  fortresses,  harbours,  coun- 
tries, districts,  rivers,  and  coasts,  belonsring  lo  the  pro- 
vinces :  as  likewise  the  islands  of  Oesel,  Dagoe,  Moen, 
and  all  the  other  islands  from  the  frontiers  of  Courland, 
towards  the  coasts  of  Livonia,  Esthonia,  and  Ingria,  and 
on  the  east  side  of  Revel,  and  in  the  road  of  Wybourg, 
towards  the  south-east,  with  all  the  present  inhabitants  of 
those  islands,  and  of  the  aforesaid  provinces,  towns,  and 
countries  ;  and  in  general,  all  their  appurtenances,  de. 
pendencies,  prerogatives,  rights,  and  advantages,  without 
exception,  in  like  manner  as  the  crown  of  Sweden  pos- 
sessed them. 

To  which  purpose,  his  majesty  the  king  of  Sweden  re- 
nounces for  ever,  in  the  most  solemn  manner,  as  well  for 
his  own  part,  as  for  his  successors,  and  for  the  whole 
kingdom  of  Sweden,  all  pretensions  which  they  have 
hitherto  had,  or  could  have,  to  the  said  provinces,  islands, 
countries,  and  towns  ;  and  all  the  inhabitants  thereof  shall, 
by  virtue  of  these  presents,  be  discharged  from  the  oath 
of  allegiance,  which  they  have  taken  to  the  crown  or 
Sweden,  in  such  wise  as  that  his  Swedish  majesty,  and 
the  kingdom  of  Sweden,  shall  never  hereafter  either  claim 
or  demand  the  same,  on  any  pretence  whatsoever ;  but,  on 
the  contrary,  they  s4iall  be  and  remain  incorporated  fo» 
ever  into  the  empire  of  Russia.  Moreover,  his  Swedish 
majesty,  and  the  kingdom  of  Sweden,  promise  by  these 
presents  to  assist  and  support  from  henceforth  his  czarish 
majesty,  and  his  successors  to  the  empire  of  Russia,  in 
the  peaceable  possession  of  the  said  provinces,  islands, 
countries,  and  ;owns  ;  and  that  they  will  find  out  and 
deliver  up  to  the  persons  authorized  by  his  czarish  majesty 
for  that  purpose,  all  the  records  and  papers  principally 
belonging  to  those  places  which  have  been  taken  away 
and  c-;rried  into  Sweden  during  the  war. 

Art  5.  His  czarish  majesty,  in  return,  promiaes  to 
evacuate  and  restore  to  his  Swedish  majesty,and  the  kinf- 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  399 

4om  of  Sweden,  within  the  space  of  four  weeks  after  the 
exchange  of  the  ratifications  of  this  treaty,  or  sooner  if 
possible,  the  grand  duchy  of  Finland,  except  only  that 
part  thereof  which  has  been  reserved  by  the  following 
regulation  of  the  limits  which  shall  belong  to  his  czarish 
majesty,  so  that  his  said  czarish  majesty,  and  his  succe»- 
Bors,  never  shall  have  or  bring  the  least  claim  or  demand 
on  the  said  duchy,  on  any  p.-etence  whatever.  His  czarish 
majesty  further  declares  and  promises,  that  certain  and 
prompt  pajment  of  two  millions  of  crowns  shall  be  made 
without  any  discount  to  the  deputies  of  the  king  of  Sweden, 
on  condition  that  thej*  produce  and  give  sufficient  receipts, 
as  agreed  upon  ;  and  the  said  payment  shall  be  made  ia 
such  coin  as  f?hall  be  agreed  upon  b}'  a  separate  article, 
which  shall  be  of  equal  force  as  if  inserted  in  the  body  of 
this  treaty. 

Art.  6.  His  majesty  the  king  of  Sweden  does  further 
reserve  to  himself,  in  regard  to  trade,  the  liberty  of  buy- 
ing corn  yearly  at  Riga,  Revel,  and  Arensbourg,  to  the 
amount  of  fifty  thousand  rubles,  which  corn  sliall  be 
transported  from  thence  into  Sweden,  withou!  paying  duty 
or  any  other  taxes,  on  producing  a  certiticate,  shewing  that 
Buch  corn  has  been  purchased  for  the  use  of  his  Swedish 
majesty,  or  by  his  subjects,  chnrged  with  tlie  care  of  mak- 
ing this  purchase  by  his  said  majesty  ;  uiid  such  right 
shall  not  be  subject  to,  or  depend  on  any  exigency,  where- 
in his  czarish  maj'-stj'  may  tind  it  necessary,  eitlier  on  ac- 
count of  a  bad  harvest,  or  some  other  important  reasons, 
to  prohibit  in  general  the  exportation  of  corn  to  any  other 
nation. 

Art.  7.  His  czarish  majesty  does  also  promis*',  in  the 
most  solemn  manner,  that  he  will  in  no  wisi;  interfere  with 
the  private  affairs  of  thn  !:ingdom  of  Sweden,  nor  with  the 
form  of  government,  which  has  been  regulated  and  esta- 
blished by  the  oath  of  allegiance,  and  unQiiiroons  consent 
of  the  states  of  said  kingdom  ;  neitlier  will  he  nnsist  therein 
any  person  whatever,  in  any  manner,  directly  or  indirectly; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  will  endeavour  to  hinder  and  prevent 
any  disturbance  happening,  provided  bis  czarish  majesty 
has  timely  notice  of  the  same,  who  will  on  all  such  oc- 
casions act  as  a  sincere  friend  and  good  neighbour  to  tne 
crown  of  Sweden. 


400  KISTORY  OF 

Art.  3.  And  as  thej  mutually  intend  lo  estallisli  a  fi'  m, 
•incere  and  lasting  peace,  to  whicli  purpose  it  is  very  uo- 
cessary  to  regTilate  the  limits  so,  that  neither  of  the  partiea 
cau  harbour  auy  jealousy,  but  that  each  shall  peaceably 
possess  whatever  has  beeu  surrendered  to  him  bj-  tnis 
treaty  of  peace, they  have  thought  proper  to  declare,  that 
the  two  empires  shall  from  henceforth  and  for  ever  have 
the  following  limits,  beginning  on  the  northern  coast  of  the 
Bothnic  gulf,  near  Wickolax,  from  whence  they  shall  ex- 
tend to  within  half  a  league  of  the  sea- coast  inland,  and 
from  the  distance  of  half  a  league  from  the  sea  as  far  as 
opposite  to  Willaj-oki,  and  from  thence  further  inland  ;  so 
that  from  the  sea-side,  and  opposite  to  Rohel,  there  shall 
be  a  distance  oi  about  three-quarters  of  a  league,  in  a  di- 
rect line,  to  the  road  which  leads  from  AVibourg  to  Lap- 
strand,  at  three  leagues  distance  from  Wibourg,  and  which 
proceeds  the  same  distance  of  three  Ungues  towards  the 
north  by  'sVibourg,  in  a  direct  line  to  the  former  limits 
between  Russia  and  Sweden,  even  before  the  redaction  oi 
the  district  of  Kexholm  under  the  government  of  the  king 
of  Sweden.  Those  ancient  limits  extend  eight  leagues 
towards  the  north,  from  theiice  they  run  in  a  direct  line 
through  the  district  of  Kexholm,  to  the  place  wherethe  har- 
bour of  Porogerai,  which  begins  near  the  town  of  Kuduma- 
gube,  joins  to  the  ancient  limits,  between  Prussia  and  Swe- 
den, so  that  his  majesty  the  king  and  kingdom  of  Sweden, 
shall  henceforth  possess  all  that  pan  lying  west  and  north 
beyond  the  above  specified  limits,  and  his  czarish  majesty 
and  the  empire  of  Russia  all  that  part  which  is  situated 
east  and  south  of  the  said  limits.  And  ai  his  czarish  ma- 
jesty surrendtrs  from  henceforth  tn  his  Sweiii^h  majesty 
and  the  kingdom  of  Sweden,  a  part  of  the  district  of  Kes- 
holna,  which  belonged  heretofore  to  the  empire  of  Russia, 
he  promises,  in  the  most  solemn  manner,  in  regard  to 
himself  and  successors  to  the  throne  of  Russia, that  he  never 
will  make  any  future  claim  to  this  said  district  of  Kex- 
holm, on  any  account  whaterer  ;  but  the  said  district  shall 
hereafter  be  and  remain  incorporated  into  the  kingdomof 
Sweden.  As  to  the  limits  in  the  country  of  Lamparque, 
they  shall  remain  on  the  same  footing  as  thej-  were  before 
the  beginning  of  this  war  between  the  two  empires.  It 
is  nirther  agreed  upon,  that  comtrissaries  shall  be  ap- 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  |01 

pointed  by  each  party,  immediately  after  the  ratificBtion 
of  this  treaty  to  regulate  the  limits  as  aforesaid. 

Art.  9.  Ills  czarish  majesty  further  promises  to  main- 
tain all  the  inhabitants  of  the  provinces  of  Livonia,  Ea- 
tbonia,  and  Oesel,  as  well  nobles  as  plebeians,  and  the 
town«,  magistrates,  companits,  and  trades,  in  the  full  en- 
joyment of  the  said  privileges,  customs  and  prerogatives, 
which  they  have  enjoyed  under  the  dominion  of  his  Swe. 
dish  majesty. 

Art.  10.  There  shall  not  hereafter  be  anj'  violence  of- 
fered to  the  consciences  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  ceded 
countries  ;  on  the  contrarj',  his  czarish  majesty  engages 
on  his  side  to  preserve  and  maintain  the  evangelical  (Lq- 
theran)  religion  on  the  same  footing  as  under  the  Swedish 
government,  provided  there  is  likewise  a  free  liberty  of 
conscience  allowed  to  those  of  the  Greek  religion. 

Art.  11.  In  regard  to  the  reductions  and  liquidations 
made  in  the  reign  of  the  late  king  of  Sweden  in  Livonia, 
Esthonia,  and  Oesel,  to  the  great  injury  of  the  subject* 
and  inhabitants  ofthose  countries,  which,  conformable  to 
the  justice  of  the  affair  in  question,  obliged  his  late  ma- 
Jestj'  the  king  of  Sweden,  of  glorious  memory,  to  promise, 
by  an  ordinance  (which  was  published  the  13th  day  of 
April,  1700,  that  if  any  one  of  his  subjects  could  fairly 
prove,  that  the  goods  which  had  been  confiscated  were 
their  property  justice  should  be  done  them,  wherebj*  seve- 
ral subjects  of  the  said  countries  have  had  such  their  con- 
fiscated efifects  restored  to  them)  his  czarish  majesty  en- 
gages and  promises,  that  justice  shall  be  done  to  every 
person,  whether  residing  or  not,  who  has  a  jiust  claim  or 
pretension  to  any  lands  in  Livonia,  Esthonia,  or  the  pro- 
vince of  Oesel,  and  can  make  full  proof  thereof,  and  that 
such  person  shall  be  reinstated  in  the  possession  of  his 
lands  and  effects. 

Art.  12  There  shall  likewise  be  immediate  restitution 
made,  conformable  to  the  general  amnesty  regulated  and 
agreed  b3-  the  second  article,  to  such  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Livonia,  Esthonia,  and  the  island  of  Oesel,  who  may 
during  this  war  hare  joined  the  king  of  Sweden,  to- 
gether with  all  their  efifects,  lands,  and  bouses,  which 
have  been  confiscated  and  given  to  others,  as  well  in 
the  towns  of  those  provinces,  as  in  those  of  Narva  and  Wi« 


402  HISTORY  OF 

bourg,  notwitl«tanding  they  may  have  passed  during  the 
said  war  by  inheritance  or  otherwise  into  other  hands,  with 
any  exception  or  restraint,  even  though  the  proprietors 
Btiould  be  actually  in  Sweden,  either  as  prisoners  or  other- 
wise; and  such  restitution  shall  take  place  so  soon  as  each 
person  is  re-naturalized  by  his  respective  government,  and 
produces  his  documents  relating  to  his  right ;  on  the  other 
hand,  these  proprittors  shall  by  no  means  laj- claim  to,  or 
pretend  lo  any  part  of,  the  revenues,  which  may  have  beea 
received  bj-  those  who  were  in  possession  in  consequence 
of  the  confiscation,  nor  to  any  other  compensation  for  their 
losses  in  the  war  or  otherwise.  And  all  persons,  who  are 
thus  put  in  repossession  of  their  effects  and  lands,  shall 
be  obliged  to  do  homage  tohisczarish  majestj',  their  pre- 
sent sovereign,  and  farther  to  behave  themselves  as  faith- 
ful vassals  and  subjects;  and  when  they  hare  taken  the 
usual  oath  of  allegiance,  they  shall  be  at  liberty  to  leave 
their  own  country  to  go  and  live  in  any  other,  which  isia 
alliance  and  friendship  with  the  Russian  empire,  as  also 
to  enter  into  the  service  of  neutral  powers,  or  to  continue 
therein,  if  already  engaged,  as  they  shall  think  proper. 
On  the  other  hand,  in  regard  to  those,  who  do  not  choose 
to  do  homage  to  his  czarish  majesty,  they  shall  be  allowed 
the  space  of  three  years  from  the  publication  of  the  peace, 
to  sell  or  dispose  of  their  effects,  lands,  and  all  belonging 
to  them,  to  the  best  advantage,  without  paying  any  more 
than  is  paid  by  everj-  other  person,  agreeably  to  the  laws 
and  statutes  of  the  country.  And  if  hereafter,  it  should 
happen  that  an  inheritance  should  devolve  to  any  person 
according  to  thelaws  of  the  country,  and  that  such  person 
shall  not  as  yet  have  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  his 
czarish  maj-^sty,  he  shall  in  such  case  be  obliged  to  take 
the  same  at  the  time  of  entering  on  the  possession  of  his 
inheritance,  otherwise  to  sell  off  all  his  effects  in  the  space 
of  one  year. 

Also  tho*:e  who  have  advanced  money  on  lands  in  Livo- 
nia, Esihonia,  and  the  island  of  Oesel,  and  have  lawful  se- 
curity for  the  same,  shall  enjoy  their  mortgages  peaceably, 
nntil  both  capital  and  interest  are  discharged  ;  on  the 
othe»  hand,  the  mortgages  shall  not  claim  any  interest, 
wKch  expired  during  the  war,  and  which  have  not  been 
>l«liiaiid«^  or  paid;  but  those  who  in  either  of  these  cases 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  403 

have  the  ailministr;ition  of  the  said  effects,  shall  be  obliged 
to  do  homage  to  his  czarish  majesty-.  This  likewise  ex 
tends  to  all  those  who  remain  in  his  czarish  majestj-'s  do- 
minions, and  who  shall  have  the  same  liberty  to  dispose 
of  their  effects  in  Sweden,  and  in  those  countries  which 
have  been  surrendered  to  that  crown  by  this  peace. 
Moreover,  the  subjects  of  each  of  the  reconciled  powers 
shall  be  mutually  supported  in  all  their  lawful  claims 
and  demands,  whether  on  the  public,  or  on  individuals 
within  the  dominions  of  the  two  powers,  and  immediate 
justice  shall  be  done  them,  so  that  every  person  may 
be  reinstated  in  the  possession  of  what  justly  belongs  to 
bim. 

Art.  13.  All  contributions  in  money  shall  from  the  sign- 
ing of  this  treaty  cease  in  the  grand  duchj'  of  Finland, 
which  his  czarish  majesty  by  the  fifth  article  of  this  treaty 
cedes  to  his  Swedish  majesty  and  the  ivinf.;dom  of  Sweden  ; 
on  the  otlier  hand  the  duchy  of  Finland  shall  furnish  his 
czarish  majesty's  troops  with  the  necessary  provisions  and 
forage  gratis,  until  thej*  shall  have  entirely  evacuated  the 
said  duchy,  on  the  said  footing  as  has  been  practised  here- 
tofore ;  and  his  czarish  majesty  shall  prohibit  and  forbid, 
nnder  the  severest  penalties,  tlie  dislodging  any  ministers 
or  peasants  of  the  Finnish  nation,  contrarj'  to  their  incli- 
nations, or  that  the  least  injury  be  done  to  them.  In  con- 
sideration ofwiiich,  and  as  it  will  be  permitted  his  cTiarish 
majesty,  upon  evacuating  the  said  countries  and  towns,  to 
take  with  him  his  great  and  small  cannon,  wiin  their  car 
riages  and  other  appurtenances,  and  the  magazines  and 
other  warlike  stores  which  he  shall  think  fit.  The  inha- 
bitants shall  furnish  a  sufficient  number  of  horse  and  wag- 
gons OS  far  as  tlie  frontiers;  and  also,  if  the  whole  of  this 
cannot  be  executed  according  to  the  stipulated  terms,  and 
that  any  part  of  such  artillcrj*,  &c.  is  necessitated  to  be 
left  behind,  then,  and  in  such  cases,  that  which  is  so  left 
•hall  be  properly  taken  care  of,  and  afterwards  delivered 
to  his  czarish  majesty's  deputies,  whenever  it  shall  be 
agreeable  to  them,  and  likewise  be  transported  to  the  fron- 
tiers in  manner  as  above.  If  his  czarish  majesty's  troops 
■hall  havefound  and  sent  oi>!  of  the  country  any  deeds  or 
papers  belonging  to  tlie  grand  duchy  of  Finland,  strict 
eearch  shall  bem3dcfor  the  sirae.and  all  of  them  tliatcaa 


404  HISTORY  OF 

be  founij  shall  oe  faithfully  restored  to  deputies  of  hia 
Swedish  majesty. 

Art.  14.  All  the  prisoners  on  each  side,  of  whatsoever 
nation,  rank,  and  condition,  shall  be  set  at  liberty  imme- 
diately after  the  ratification  of  this  treaty,  without  any 
ransom,  at  the  same  time  eyery  prisoner  shall  either  pay  or 
give  sufficient  security  for  the  payment  of  all  debts  by 
them  coatracted.  The  prisoners  on  each  side  shall  be  fur- 
nished with  the  necessary  horses  and  waggons  gratis  dnr- 
ing  the  time  allotted  for  their  return  home,  in  proportion 
to  the  distance  from  the  frontiers.  In  regard  to  such  pri. 
Mners,  who  shall  have  sided  with  one  or  the  other  party, 
or  who  shall  choose  to  settle  in  the  dominions  of  either  cf 
the  two  powers, they  shall  have  full  liberty  goto  do  with- 
out restriction  :  and  this  liberty  shall  likewise  extend  to 
all  those  who  have  been  compelled  to  serve  either  party 
during  the  war,  who  may  in  like  manner  remain  where 
they  are,  or  return  home  ;  except  such  who  have  volunta- 
rily embraced  the  Greek  religion,  in  compliance  to  his 
czarish  majesty;  for  which  purpose  each  party  shall  order 
that  the  edicts  be  published  and  made  known  ia  their  re- 
spective dominions. 

Art.  15.  His  majesty  the  king,  and  the  republic  of  Po- 
land, as  allies  to  his  czarish  majesty,  are  expressly  com- 
prehended in  this  tr«aty  of  peace,  and  have  equal  right 
thereto,  as  if  the  treaty  of  peace  between  them  andthe  crown 
of  Sweden  had  been  inserted  here  at  full  length:  to  which 
purpose  all  hostilities  whatsoever  shaU  cease  m  general 
throusrhout  all  the  kingdoms,  countries,  and  patrimonies 
beloacingto  the  two  reconciled  parties,  whether  situated 
within  or  out  of  the  Roman  empire,  and  there  shall  be  a 
solid  acd  lasting  peace  established  between  the  two  afore- 
said powers.  And  as  no  plenipotentiary  on  the  part  of 
his  Polish  majesty  and  the  republic  of  Poland  has  assisted 
at  this  treaty  of  peace,  held  at  Nystadt,  and  that  conse- 
quently they  could  not  at  one  and  the  same  time  renew 
the  peace  by  a  solemn  treaty  between  his  majesty' the  king 
of  Poland  and  tke  crown  of  Sweden,  his  majesty  the  king 
of  Sweden  does  therefore  engage  and  promise,  that  he  will 
send  plenipotentiaries  to  open  the  conferences,  so  soon  as 
a  place  shall  be  appointed  for  the  said  meeting,  in 
order  to  conclude,  through  the  mediation  of  his  cxarsh 


PETER  THE  GREAT.  406 

maietty.a  laslinj;  peace  between  the  two  crowns,  pro- 
vided nothing  is  therein  contained  which  may  be  pre- 
judicial to  the  treaty  of  perpetual  peace  made  witli  his 
czarish  majesty. 

Art,  16.  A  free  trade  shall  be  regulated  and  established 
as  soon  as  possible,  which  shall  subsist  both  by  sea  and 
laud  between  the  two  powers,  their  dominions,  subjects, 
an  J  !riJi-3ibitant8,by  meansof  a  separate  treaty  on  this  head, 
to  the  qood  and  advantage  of  their  respective  dominions  ; 
and  in  the  mean  time  the  subjects  of  Russia  and  Sweden 
■hall  have  leave  totrade  freely  in  the  empire  of  Russia  and 
kingdom  of  Sweden,  so  soon  as  the  treaty  of  peace  is  ra- 
tided,  at'ter  paj'ing  the  us  lal  duties  on  the  several  kinds 
of  merchandise;  so  that  the  subjects  of  Russia  and 
Sweden  sliall  reciprocally  enjoy  the  same  privileges  and 
prerogatives  as  are  enjoyed  by  the  closest  friends  of  either 
of  the  said  states. 

Art.  17.  Restitution  shall  be  made  on  both  sides,  after 
the  ratiticatio;i  of  the  peace,  not  onh-  of  the  magazines 
which  ^^•e^e  before  the  commencement  of  the  war  esta- 
blished iii  certain  trading  towns  belongitjg  to  the  two 
powers,  but  also  liberty  shall  be  reciprocally  granted  to  the 
subjects  of  his  czarish  majesty  and  ihe  king  of  Sweden  to 
establish  magazines  in  the  towns,  harbours,  and  other 
places  subject  to  both  or  either  of  the  said  powers. 

Art.  18.  If  any  Swedish  ships  of  war  or  msrchant  ves- 
sels shall  have  the  misfortune  te  be  wrecked,  or  cast  away 
by  stress  of  weather,  or  any  other  accident,  on  the  coasts 
and  harbours  of  Russia,  his  czarish  majesty's  subjects 
shall  be  obliged  to  give  them  all  aid  and  assistance  in 
their  power  to  save  their  rigging  and  efTects,  and  faith- 
fullj'  to  restore  whatever  may  be  drove  on  shore,  if  de- 
manded, provided  they  are  properly  rewarded.  And  the 
subjects  of  his  majest3-  the  king  of  Sweden  shall  do  the 
same  in  regard  to  such  Russian  sliipsand  efTects  as  may 
have  the  misfortune  to  be  wrecked  or  otherwise  lost  on 
the  coasts  of  Sweden  ;  for  which  purpose,  and  to  prevent 
all  ill  treatment,  robbing,  and  plundering,  which  com 
monly  happens  on  such  melancholy  occasions,  his  czar- 
ish majesty  and  th«  king  of  Sweden  will  cause  a  most  ri- 
gorous prohibitioii  tube  issued,  and  all  whoshall  be  found 
traDSgres'ing  in  tliis  point  shall  be  punished  on  the  spot. 


405  UlSTORY  OF 

Art.  19.  And  to  piaveDt  all  possible  cause  or  occasion 
oI'misunderstandiiiK  between  the  two  parties,  in  relatiot 
to  sea  affairs,  they  have  concluded  and  determined,  that 
finy  Swedish  ships  of  war,  of  whatever  number  or  size,  ihat 
shall  hereafter  pass  by  any  of  his  czarish  majesty's  forts  or 
castles,  shall  salute  the  same  with  their  cannon,  which 
compliment  shall  be  directly  returned  in  the  same  man- 
ner by  the  Russian  fort  or  castle  :  and,  vice  versa,  any 
Russian  ships  of  war,  of  whatever  number  or  size,  that 
shall  hereafter  pass  by  any  fort  or  castle  belongicp  to  his 
Swedish  majesty,  shall  salute  the  same  with  a  discharge 
of  their  cannon,  which  compliment  shall  be  instantly  re- 
turned in  the  same  manner  by  the  Swedish  fort  ;  and  iu 
case  any  one  or  more  Swedish  and  Russian  ships  shall  meet 
atsea,orin  any  harbour  or  elsewhere,  they  shall  sa'.uie  each 
other  with  a  common  discharge,  as  is  usually  practised  on 
•uch  occasions  between  th--  ships  of  Sweden  and  Denmark. 

Art.  20.  It  is  mutually  agreed  between  the  two  powers, 
no  longer  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  ministers  of  the 
two  powers,  as  have  been  done  hitherto  ;  but  their  repre- 
sentative ministers,  plenipotentiaries,  and  envoys,  shall 
hereafter  defray  their  own  expenses  and  those  of  their 
own  attendants,  as  well  on  their  journey  as  during  their 
stay,  and  back  to  their  respective  place  of  residence.  On 
the  other  hand,  either  of  the  two  parties,  on  receiving 
timely  notice  of  the  arrival  of  an  envoy,  shall  order  that 
their  subjects  give  them  all  the  assistance  that  may  be 
necessary  to  escort  them  safe  on  their  journey. 

Art  21.  Ilis  majesty  the  king  of  Sweden  does  on  his 
part  comprehend  his  majestj-  i\e  king  of  Great  Britain 
in  this  treaty  of  peace,  reserving  only  the  differences  sub- 
sisting between  their  czarish  and  his  Britannic  majesties, 
which  they  shall  immediately  endeavour  to  terminate  iu 
a  friendly  manner  ;  and  such  other  powers,  who  shall  be 
named  by  the  two  reconciled  parties  within  the  space  of 
three  months,  shall  likewise  be  included  in  this  treaty  of 
peace. 

Art.  22.  In  case  any  misunderstanding  shall  hereafter 
arise  between  the  states  and  subjects  of  Sweden  and  Rns- 
sia,  it  shall  by  no  means  prejudice  this  treaty  of  perpetual 
peace  ;  which  shall  nevertheless  always  be  and  remain  m 
fall  foro^  agreeable  to  its  intent,  and  commissaries  sbal 


PETER  THE  GREA  V,  407 

without  delay  be  appointed  on  each  side  to  inquire  into  and 
•dJDBt  all  diBputes. 

Art.  23.  All  those  who  have  been  guilty  of  high  trea- 
son, murder,  theft,  and  other  crimes,  and  those  who  de- 
serted from  Sweden  to  Russia,  and  from  Russia  to  Sweden, 
either  singly  or  with  their  wives  and  children,  shall  be 
immediately  sent  back,  provided  the  complaining  party  of 
the  country  from  whence  they  made  their  escape,  shall 
think  fit  to  recal  them,  let  them  be  of  what  nation  soever, 
and  in  the  same  condition  as  they  were  at  their  arrival, 
together  with  their  wives  and  children,  as  likewise  with 
all  they  had  stolen,  plundered,  or  taken  away  with  them 
in  their  flight. 

Art.  24.  The  exchange  of  the  ratification  of  this  treaty 
of  peace,  shall  be  reciprocally  made  at  Nystadt  within 
the  space  of  three  weeks,  after  the  daj'  of  sig  ->ing  the  same, 
or  sooner,  if  possible.  In  witness  whereof,  two  copies  of 
this  treaty,  ekactlj'  corresponding  with  each  other,  have 
been  drawn  up,  and  confirmed  by  the  plenipotentiary  mi- 
nisters on  each  side,  in  virtue  of  the  authority  tliey  have 
received  from  their  respective  sovereign.s  ;  which  copies 
they  ha^e  signed  with  their  own  hands,  and  sealed  with 
their  own  seals.  Done  at  Nystadt.  this  30tli  day  of  Au- 
gust   m  the  y«>ar  of  our  Lord  1721.     O.  S. 

Jean  I.iliensted. 

Otto  Reinhold  Stroemfeld. 

Jacob  Daniel   Bruce. 

Henry-John-Frederic  Ostermau. 


Ordinanct  of  the  Emperor  Peter  I.  for  the  crowning 
of  the  Empress  Catherine. 

We,  Peter  the  First,  emperor  and  autocrator  of  all  the  Ruv 
6>as,  &c.  to  all  our  oflScers  ecclesiastical,  civil,  and  mili- 
tary, and  all  others  of  the  Russian  nation,  our  faithful 
subjects. 

No  one  can  be  ignorant  that  it  has  been  a  constant  and 
invariable  custom  amoni;  the  monarchs  of  all  Christian 
states,  to  caitsf  their  consorts  to  be  crownerl.and  thnttbs 
same  is  a»  present  practised,  and  hatb  fieqviently  been  in 
&jrmer  times  by  those  emferon  who  proftssed  the  holy 


408        HISTORY  OF  PEl  ER  THE  GREAT. 

faith  of  the  Greek  charch ;  to  wit,  by  the  emperor  Ba?U 
Ijdes,  who  caused  his  wife  Zenobia  to  be  crowned ;  the 
emperor  Justinian,  his  wife  Lucipina;  the  emperor  Hera- 
cliua,  his  wife  Martina  :  the  emperor  Leo,  the  philosopher, 
his  wife  Mary ;  aod  many  others,  who  have  in  like  man- 
ner placed  the  imperial  crown  on  the  head  of  taeir  con- 
sorts, and  whom  it  would  be  too  tedious  here  to  enumerate. 
It  is  also  well  known  to  every  one  how  much  we  have 
exposed  our  person,  and  faced  the  greatest  dangers,  fol 
the  good  of  our  country  during  the  one  and  twenty  years' 
course  of  the  late  war,  which  we  have  by  the  assistance 
of  God  terminated  in  so  honsurable  and  advantageous  a 
manner,  that  Russia  hath  never  beheld  such  a  peace,  nor 
ever  acquired  so  great  glory  as  in  the  late  war.  Now 
the  empress  Catherine,  our  dearly  beloved  wife,  having 
greatly  comforted  and  assisted  us  during  the  said  war,  and 
also  m  several  other  our  expeditious,  wherein  she  volun- 
tarily and  cheerfully  accompanied  us,  assisting  us  with  her 
counsel  and  advice  in  every  exigence,  notwithstanding  the 
weakness  of  her  sex,  particularly  in  the  battle  against  the 
Tuiks,  on  the  hanks  of  the  river  Pruth,  wherein  our  army 
was  reduced  to  twenty  thousand  men,  while  that  cf  the 
Turks  amounted  to  two  hundred  and  seventy  thousand, 
and  on  which  desperate  occasion  she  sismalized  herself  in 
a  particular  manner,  by  a  courage  and  presence  of  mind 
superior  to  her  sex,  which  is  well  known  to  all  our  army, 
and  to  the  whole  Russian  empire:  therefore,  for  these  rea- 
sons^ and  in  virtue  of  the  power  which  God  has  given  us, 
we  have  resolved  to  hoaour  our  said  consort  Cath^rina 
with  the  imperial  crown,  as  a  reward  for  her  painful  ser- 
vices ;  and  we  propose,  God  willing,  that  this  ceremony 
stall  be  peiformed  the  ensuing  winter  at  >loacow.  And 
we  do  hereby  give  notice  of  this  our  resolution  to  all 
who  are  faithful  subjects,  in  favour  of  whom  our  iscyi- 
tial  affection  ii  unalterable. 


B    000 


002  689    8 


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